Attack of the Super Allosaurus
by Neil Riebe
Summary: The Shobijin seek Godzilla's aid to battle a prehistoric super predator. Godzilla helped Mothra save the world once. Will he do it again?
1. Chapter 1

**Attack of the Super Allosaurus**

By Neil Riebe

Chapter 1

"We have visual contact with bogie."

"Very good, Alpha leader. Tower to all wing commanders, engage bogie."

Three squadrons of F-15 Eagles rocketed over Tokyo bay toward the open sea. In other countries, you call the humane society when a wild animal strays into the community. In Japan, you call the army.

Alpha leader pushed his squadron into the lead. "Almost in range." He held his finger ready at the trigger. "Closing…closing…"

"Oh, god!" one of Alpha leader's wingmen gasped over the intercom. "I can't get over this monster's size."

"Easy,Sakai!" Alpha leader shot a glance toward his wingman's plane. "We're going to bag this bird, stuff him, and stick him with his fossilized ancestors in a museum. Right?"

Japan's strays tended to be bigger than a deer or fox. This one had a five hundred foot wingspan and flew at supersonic speeds. His lineage could be traced back sixty-five million years. He was the monster Rodan, and as far as he was concerned the skies were his playground.

When his pursuers drew close, he swooped up, high over the planes. In one instant the giant pteranodon was in their sights, in the next—gone!

The pilots craned their heads. "Which way did he go?"

"Tower to all wings, Rodan is heading for you! Beta wing break right. Omega break left."

While the control tower issued orders, Rodan completed his loop and shrieked ahead of Alpha squadron and swung across their path at such speed, his wake sent their fragile planes crashing into each other. Wreckage and screams rained from the air.

Rodan continued round toward Beta squadron, slashing the sky like a scythe.

"Beta commander to all wings, make evasive!"

"Beta squadron, abort evasive! Make dive! Make dive! YOU'RE HEADING RIGHT FOR US!"

Rodan herded Beta toward Omega just as Omega launched their missiles at him. The pilots turned the airwaves purple with their curses as they yanked their throttles in one direction to avoid an incoming warhead only to have to pull in the opposite direction to avoid one of their comrades.

Rodan screeched in delight as he flew straight through them. In one swoop, the twisting and rolling airplanes boomed into orange fireballs, like a grim display of fireworks. The sky crackled. Once clear of the smoke and falling debris, Rodan slowed to a gentle mach two through the salty Pacific winds.

Below was his island home, a pinnacle rock ringed with trees. A circle of water parted from the coast. A figure rose from the deep blue depths. Rodan squawked and dived for home.

At the tower, radar indicated only a half dozen marks remained of the original strike force. "Tower to surviving pilots. Regroup and pursue. Bogie on descent course to island."

The six F-15s skimmed the ocean. Rodan swung from view, behind the far side of the mountain on the island. Directly ahead, the object of Rodan's irritation lumbered across the beach, a beast towering fifty meters.

Wet from the sea, his charcoal-colored scales shimmered in the summer radiance. His eyes glared from under a hooded, reptilian brow. With his clawed hands held out, he strode as though he were stalking a victim. The white sands and cloudless azure hardly suited as a stage for his reappearance. But with Godzilla, the world was his office. He went where he pleased and this sun-soaked island pleased him.

At the sight of the fighters, he flared his dorsal plates in warning.

The pilots took the hint and withdrew for the mainland, lest he blasted them with his atomic breath.

Godzilla relaxed only to sense a familiar sound. He craned his head. The noise picked up into a sonic screech. A winged mass smashed into the back of his skull. Pain flashed. Godzilla staggered off his feet, taking in a mouthful of sand. A familiar cry bellowed from above. Rodan!

Godzilla righted himself, ignoring his throbbing bruise. The main thing was not to let Rodan get the best of him.

His pteranodan opponent dived from the direction of the sun. Squinting, he fired blindly. Rodan soared overhead, untouched, whipping a veritable sandstorm in Godzilla's face.

He perched on the mountainside and flapped his wings to stir up the wind. Godzilla hardly shook the sand out of his eyes when he found himself bracing against the Rodan-induced hurricane storming down the mountain.

This little island wasn't worth the fight. Rodan thePestcould be dealt with later. Squabbling was not on Godzilla's agenda for today. He returned to Pacific waters and headed for a much bigger piece of territory, the Japanese mainland.

* * *

"Earlier this afternoon Rodan soared supreme in what zoologists described as a territorial fight. Air force fighters engaged the winged reptile off the mainland coast."

Gary Cullmin was on the phone, yet he picked out Rodan's name over his call. "Hey, Mom, guess what! One of those Japanese monsters is in the news." He went to the TV. On screen was an anchor woman standing on the shore with the ocean waves behind her. Hm, he thought to himself she's cute.

"They're just saying the air force fought him," he explained over the phone. "No! I don't plan on coming home right away. Like I said I want memories ofJapanother than school."

Garyknelt down by the TV. "Here. Would you like to hear a news report in Japanese?" He put the phone to one of the speakers.

"The surviving pilots tracked Rodan to a small uninhabited island only to become witnesses to a battle of prehistoric titans. It seemed Godzilla also had his eye on the little knoll..."

Gary pulled the phone away. "Wasn't that cool? The reporter said Rodan and Godzilla fought over an island. I wished they would show some footage."

The reporter's monologue suddenly distracted him from his mother's voice. "I repeat. The following prefectures -Kanagawa,Tokyo, andChiba-are to be prepared for evacuation. Godzilla has been sighted heading toward theHonshucoast. This is Tomoko Mahiko, NHK News."

"Sorry, Mom, I didn't catch what you said."Garylistened to his mom repeat her question. "No, I didn't 'meet anybody' here. Believe me you wouldn't have time with all the homework!"

* * *

Elsewhere, a slight Chinese girl dressed in a purple silk robe and white slippers hurried down a long, echoing corridor. She pressed a neon button with a delicate finger. A harsh hydraulic hiss spat within the steel walls as a door slid open. She hurried into a carpeted room. The door rumbled shut with a clang behind her. She scampered through a tastefully decorated office to a back room and waited, bowed and silent, at the threshold.

Here in this room stood a tall, lean man tailored in a suit of purest white. His back was to her as he watched a row of monitors displaying the events of Rodan's battle with Godzilla from news services from around the world. The man rested his hand on a globe the way one would on the shoulder of a beloved wife. He spoke in a smooth and paternalistic tone. "Ling, tell Satin to retrieve my property from Muka's club."

* * *

The walls of Muka's club at the Tokyo Ginza thrummed with applause. The young singing duet, The Twin Petals, bowed after finishing their final song, _Petite Fleur_.

Japanese Secret Service Agent Yomo Kuta leaned over to his burly boss, saying into his ear, "Told you, Chief. They are terrific!"

"If I am not mistaken, Shindo was the one who recommended we come." Goro Yamashita looked over to his other agent who, oddly enough, was the only one in the audience not applauding. "What is the matter, Shindo? You look bothered."

"It was not them singing."

"You mean they lip synced?" Yomo asked. "So what? That's nothing new."

Shindo turned on him sternly. "I mean it was not them. Period! I could see the stage fright in their eyes. They're not professionals, while those voices were more than professional."

"Shindo," Yamashita gruffed. "You are not on assignment. Relax."

"Something is wrong. I can tell when someone is under the gun."

With that Shindo stood.

"Hey, wait!" Yomo jumped from his seat.

Shindo blocked him from leaving the table. "One of us nosing backstage will be conspicuous enough. Two would be making a scene. Besides, it's my turn to buy the next round." He slapped a wad of bills into Yomo's hand. He then pointed to the corners of his mouth and said to his boss Yamashita, "Smile."

Yamashita didn't smile. "Shindo, sit down!"

Too late. Shindo took off. Yomo plopped back down.

"I just hope, Yomo," Yamashita said, "he doesn't embarrass us."

Shindo gathered his share of stares backstage. He smiled and moved on before anyone could question him. Around the corner by the back exit stood a man dressed in a black suit like his. This looked promising. A Yakuza.

After passing several rooms, he heard voices. Voices, he could tell by the tone, which were finalizing a deal, a deal that was not going well. He pressed his ear to the door.

"These two girls have become quite lucrative. We insist on compensation," a brutish-sounding fellow grumbled.

"Consider the extra earnings a bonus, Muka-san," a rich, feminine voice said. Shindo recognized her. "This was a temporary arrangement," she continued. "Surrender the girls."

"What about us?" another woman spoke. She sounded younger, tense. She must be one of the Two Petals. The girl probably had been under a lot of strain and only now worked up the courage to speak up. "You strong-armed us into this gig, and now we're going to be dumped like garbage?"

With practiced fingers, Shindo twisted the knob and inched the door open a crack. Inside, Muka sat at one end of a table flanked by his cut throats. Muka weighed over two hundred pounds. Half of it was fat, the other muscle. He was not the type of man Shindo wanted to challenge in a fist fight. Muka's blubber could soak the impact of any punch while his returning blow would shatter bone.

Shindo didn't see much else other than an ornate box set on Muka's side of the table.

The sultry voice answered the duet's complaints. "I am truly sorry. But we cannot allow any compromise to our mission's secrecy. Take comfort in the fact you will not be starving on the streets."

The lights went out and gunfire erupted. Shindo dropped to the floor as stray rounds ripped through the door. Bodies hit the floor inside. The shots stopped. Shindo burst in finding Muka, his men, and the singers, dead. The ornate box was gone.

From an open door on the other side of the room, Shindo heard a scuffle and then something crashed on the floor. "Forget about it!" the woman with the sultry voice commanded. "Let's go! Let's go!"

Shindo rushed out of the room, down a corridor toward the noise. He arrived at the exit where he found the Yakuza watchman on the floor, unconscious. The fancy box lay smashed. Shindo bent down to examine it. The ruined box had a pop up lid and two little doors on the side. He picked up a piece. The interior was lined with padded cloth.

Then a car pulled away, its tires screeching. Shindo burst out the exit, but the car was long gone.

While he caught his breath, a number of stagehands and performers joined him in the back alley. The club manager asked, "What happened?"

Shindo looked at the piece of the ornate box again. "I don't know."

At that point it no longer mattered. Sirens whined to life. A thud, like a heavy toll of distant thunder, reverberated through the ground, followed by another. Everyone knew what that heralded…

Godzilla's fins flared, adding their blue glow toTokyo's neon signs. He exhaled a stream of his atomic beam over the heads of the people rushing for cover, striking the face of the Odakyu Mall. Girders melted to steam. Concrete crumbled and glass exploded into a cascade of shimmering shards. Godzilla roared over the din.

Motorists hopped out of their vehicles as Godzilla stomped toward them. Cars crunched under his feet like eggshells. Godzilla roared again to hustle the scurrying humans. Contrary to popular opinion, he didn't take pleasure in trampling on human beings anymore than people wanted bug guts smeared on their bare feet.

He passed through the gap he burned into the mall and stepped across the next street, shoving his foot into the brilliant blue and red lights of the Kabukiza Theater. Electricity jolted his toes. The sensation merely tickled him. Godzilla pushed the theater into the next building, both collapsing to rubble. A wave of cinder billowed.

A block away, the lean man in the white suit waited, resting his elbow on the hood of a black jeep. His angular features revealed that he was of Chinese descent. The men under his employ took positions on both sides of the road, to watch for police, evacuees—witnesses of any sort. They were dressed as civilians and armed with compact versions of the AK-47 assault rifle.

"Godzilla approaching," the radio operator in the jeep reported. "Six hundred meters."

The man in white stepped to the center of the evacuated street, the same street in which Godzilla was treading.

"Prepare Contraction Field."

His radio operator relayed his order. Three black Huey choppers swung into view over rooftops. Godzilla eyed the helicopters as they circled him.

A cruel grin crept across the man's face. "Activate the Contraction Field."

The radio operator yelled into his headset. "Activate! Activate!"

The three Huey helicopters fired yellow beams of swirling light at Godzilla, spreading them all over his body.

The behemoth doubled over. He forced himself erect, wailing both in agony and anger. Impossibly, Godzilla's form shrank, from his full fifty meters in height to forty, then thirty. Soon the buildings towered over him. The choppers smoothly rotated to better angles lighting their beams down into the street where Godzilla staggered, dwindling smaller and smaller—ten meters, five, and still shrinking. Smoke peeled away from his body in steamy tendrils, enshrouding Godzilla in a pale cloud lit by the beams of light. His shrunken form slumped to the pavement.

The man signaled his radio operator with an upraised hand. The beams let up.

A large Russian Mi-10 Harke transport helicopter roared over the rooftops. It lowered a steel crate to the street beside Godzilla's smoking form. Five men slung their AKM's and rushed forward. Fumes dissipated from Godzilla's body, which barely stretched out two meters from head to toe.

Two cars pulled up alongside the road. A beautiful Caucasian woman with long black hair stepped out of the first car with two of her mercenary women. Three more women exited from the second vehicle. All of them were smartly geared in black combat fatigues. The men admired the ladies as the brunette approached their leader in white.

"Chiang," she greeted him with a kiss.

"Ah, Satin. Success?"

"I had some complications."

"Complications?" Chiang's gaze turned icy.

"The Yakuza surprised us in the hall. One of your 'telepathic components' got away."

Chiang calculated the compromise to his enterprise then smiled with satisfaction. "So long as I have one. The other I am sure is dead with all the chaos inTokyo."

One of Chiang's men ran up to him. "Godzilla is loaded and ready."

Chiang waved to the Mi-10 helicopter. At his signal the helicopter pulled the crate to its under belly and flew off with the three Hueys. "Now Godzilla can be put through mental processing," Chiang announced. "Come. My work has only begun."

* * *

Godzilla's sudden disappearance baffled the authorities. The official stance was that Godzilla, for reasons known only to him, chose to make his trek throughTokyoa short one, even though the police and the military could find no tracks heading back to the sea. His trail marched into the heart ofTokyoand then abruptly stopped. Relieved to have suffered only a fraction of the usual damage, the citizens didn't press for any further explanations.

Shindo had the police reports spread out before him. But the one pertaining to the murders at Muka's club occupied his attention. Yomo sat on the corner of his desk. He asked what this woman Satin was like.

"Satin?" Shindo leaned back dreamily in his office chair. "Think of Jane Seymour but taller. Very beautiful. I always wanted to meet Satin. Almost did once."

The intercom beeped on his desk. Shindo pressed the button.

"Shindo, this is Yamashita. I have the file on the box you found at Muka's club."

"Good work, Chief, bring it in."

"Shindo!" Yamashita exclaimed in anger.

Shindo clicked off. "I guess we better see him."

In Yamashita's office, Shindo compared a piece of the smashed box to a photo of it dated 1964.

"The box was a carrying case." Yamashita pulled out a picture from the file and slid it across the desk to Shindo and Yomo. "For these two."

Shindo picked up the photo. The photograph was a publicity shot of two young women, identical twins. They flashed sparkling smiles and wore golden tiaras in their trussed up hair. Leaning over them from behind was the infamous showman, Clark Nelson, deceased. He held his hands out, presenting them to the camera. The size of the two women in comparison to Nelson was distinct. They appeared to be no more than a foot tall. "It's the Shobijin," Shindo said, "the Twin Fairies fromInfantIsland."

Yomo took the photo. "Say, weren't they inTokyoa while ago, on that TV show? What was it called?"

"_What Are They Doing Now?_" Yamashita said.

"Yeah, that one!" Yomo set the photo back on Yamashita's desk. "Since their carrying case was at Muka's club, the Twin Fairies must've been there, too."

"The Fairies are renowned for their singing ability," Shindo noted. Then he snapped his fingers. "I bet they were the ones singing. Muka rigged a mike backstage while the Twin Petals lip-synched."

"Yes," Yamashita agreed, "your theory is valid. But read on. Under powers."

Shindo took the Shobijin's file and scanned the pages. "Ability to communicate with animal and plant life... and the greatest of these is mental telepathy!"

"Impressive," chimed Yomo.

"Now," Shindo emphasized with the papers in his hand. "Who would want access to these powers? And for what purpose?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Attack of the Super Allosaurus**

By Neil Riebe

Chapter 2

The cottage Gary shared a western-style cottage with two other classmates. Now that the semester was over, his classmates returned home for the summer, leaving the cottage all to himself. Like many "western" style homes, the Japanese set aside one room with a traditional flavor. In this instance, it was the living room. Sliding doors segregated it from the rest of the dwelling and tatami mats covered the floor.

Gary didn't get out of bed until 10:45 am. After putting his nose to the grind stone all last semester, he decided he deserved to sleep in late. He went straight to the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice and paused with his hand on the refrigerator door handle.

A sipping sound came from the sink. Something stirred inside, something alive.

Gary couldn't fathom what kind of animal got into the house. A rabid monkey from the woods? He inched toward the sink.

A young woman was inside the square basin, down on one knee, catching drops of water dripping from the faucet and drinking from her cupped hands. She had straight, raven hair which flowed over her delicate shoulders and down her back. Her attire was akin to a primitive island girl with a single scrap of tan cloth wrapped around her torso to form a sort of dress. She wore a gold tiara sporting a red flower. WhenGaryspotted her, she stood, greeting him with an infectious smile. "Good morning."

Gary stumbled backwards into the refrigerator in surprise.

The girl rubbed her wet palms on her hips and climbed onto the countertop. She stood about a foot tall. "I understand my appearance must be strange to you," she said. "Please do not be distressed. It is only a small matter."

Gary almost laughed. "A small matter… Yeah, it's definitely small!" he said in reference to her size. "Ah... call me Gary. My friends call me that."

"I shall. I appreciate your friendship. In return I give you mine." She clasped her hands together and bowed her head to him.

* * *

The Mi-10 transport helicopter rested on a suspended heliport in an underground landing bay. Its crew lowered the crate containing Godzilla to the flatbed of a ZIL-131 army truck parked below. Security teams armed with assault rifles stood ready along a catwalk.

Ming Lao, Chiang's right hand man, supervised Godzilla's handling from the safety of the command center, which overlooked the bay. Prior to joining Chiang, he was a professional soldier, a Colonel. He still preferred to be addressed as Colonel by his subordinates.

With mike in hand, Lao flipped the PA switch. "Retrieval team, remove Godzilla."

Four of the Colonel's men mounted the truck and removed the sides of the crate while four others surrounded the vehicle with electric cattle prods. Godzilla lay inert, exposed on the back of the truck. They muzzled and bound him in chains.

Then his tail swished across the flatbed.

The men jumped off the truck, wild eyed, yelling, "He's awake!"

"Tranquilizer detail," Lao called over the PA.

Three sharpshooters up on the catwalk shouldered their tranquilizer rifles.

Godzilla righted himself in the back of the truck. Groggy, bewildered, he took in the sight of all the humans, humans that equaled his size. He recalled the blinding yellow rays. At first he thought the rays were attacking him, but he felt fine now, so he concluded the rays affected everything around him, making everything bigger.

In any case, Godzilla was not going to submit to restraint. He tossed his head side to side, trying to fling off the muzzle.

"Fire!" Lao shouted into the mike.

The darts struck but didn't pierce through Godzilla's thick hide.

He shook the chains lose and ripped the muzzle from his jaws and let out a reverberating roar. The men surrounding the truck jabbed him with their cattle prods. He snarled, further enraged, and snapped the next lunging prod with his hands.

All at once the security team on the catwalk opened fire. Godzilla writhed and screamed from the pelting.

Cease fire!" Lao yelled over the PA. "You'll kill him!"

At forty guns strong, the chattering assault rifles drowned out the Colonel's voice. But the bullets were bouncing off his thick hide just as the shells from the tanks did when he was full size. The only difference was the intensity and volume of the assault rifles. Godzilla had never experienced that much firepower at once. It was like being subjected to a torrential storm of steel rain. He drew in his breath, his dorsal fins flashing.

Chiang's men gasped. They forgot. Shrinking Godzilla did not necessarily mean they had stripped him of his primary weapon. Godzilla was still Godzilla.

He unleashed his atomic ray across the entire length of the catwalk like an inexhaustible flamethrower. The troops contorted in agony, blackening into ash. The catwalk peeled from the wall like molten wax, spilling their smoldering bodies to the floor.

Some members of the security detail tried to duck into the command center only to be blasted in the back by Godzilla's atomic ray. They came hurling through the door into the command center like human torches. Their flaming bodies set off the automatic sprinkler system. Water spewed into the confusion in the center.

With no more opposition barring him, Godzilla turned for the access tunnel used by the trucks.

"Secure all the doors!" Lao shouted.

In the drenching spray, the command center staff hit the buttons to all the doors. One they couldn't reach, because a burning body lay across the switch. It was the switch to the access tunnel.

Godzilla was half way across the bay when one of the staffers put out the flames the sprinklers couldn't handle with an extinguisher and pulled the corpse from the control bank to throw the switch.

The reinforced door ground across its track, squeezing access to the tunnel. Godzilla continued toward it regardless. Lao clenched his fist. "Close!" he begged. Both door and Godzilla continued at their laborious pace and met before the door could seal the landing bay.

Godzilla braced his chest against the door and pushed. The gears whined. Metal screeched. Godzilla roared back. In the end the machinery gave and the alarms went off. Godzilla was loose.

"Cut the alarms!"

"Colonel, are you sure?"

"Do you want Chiang to know his prize specimen is loose? Cut the alarms and inform the security chief in Sector 7 he's authorized to use rocket-propelled grenades—but only to wound! Then shoot the wounds with tranquilizer darts."

While Colonel Lao's control center staff relayed the orders, Godzilla wandered through a maze-work of tunnels. Three men confronted him at the next junction. One shouldered an RPG.

Godzilla didn't hesitate. He washed the whole junction with flame. The rocket-propelled grenade exploded, peppering the walls with shrapnel.

Godzilla passed the howling bodies writhing on the floor and rounded the next bend where he surprised a cluster of technicians. They bolted in all directions, back into their offices, except for one who ended up being locked out by his peers. He ran with his white lab coat fluttering behind him to the elevator, slapping the buttons.

The door dinged open and he ran in.

When Godzilla arrived at the elevator, the door had shut. He studied the spot on the wall the man had slapped, observing two round buttons. From the buttons he looked back at the door. He decided to imitate what the man did, and poked the same button.

The door dinged open, revealing a small enclosure. The man was gone.

Godzilla grunted. If the human could go inside and be gone, perhaps he could go in and be gone, too. He wanted to get out of the tunnels and back to the sea.

He stepped into the elevator, the door dinged shut, and he waited.

And waited.

He looked around finding more circular keys. To see what would happen he poked one.

The floor lurched. A sensation of rising welled up in his belly.

Then the elevator stopped humming and the door opened to another corridor. More humans opened fire on him from the shelter of a makeshift barricade at the far end of the hall. Godzilla ducked back just in time to evade a pair of rocket-propelled grenades. They flew at him like jet-powered arrows and exploded in the lift, slashing him with ragged pieces of shrapnel. His ears rang. His skin stung.

The smoke barely cleared when the humans rolled what looked like black rocks into the elevator. Irritably Godzilla batted them back with his tail.

"Look out! He's knocking the grenades back at us!"

The rocks bounced against the barricade and exploded, leaving a wake of human screams.

"Ahh! My face!"

"My arm! My arm!"

"I can't see!"

Godzilla stepped down the hall and smashed through the barricade. Wounded humans limped away. Beyond was a large room. At its center was a turntable and rocket launcher with an SA-2 anti-aircraft missile. The rocket pointed toward an enclosed door. Its crew desperately tried to fend him off with their service pistols. His patience exhausted, Godzilla blasted everything in the room, including the missile. The 130-kilogram warhead exploded, blowing out the door. Dirt poured in through the blown opening.

Light from outside shined into the smoke-filled chamber. Godzilla stepped through the hole blown into the door, leaving behind the ashen haze for fresh mountain air. He inhaled deeply. The outdoors at last!

Godzilla stood on a ledge jutting out from a mountain slope. Green forests filled the deep valleys below and on the horizon—the ocean. His hard gaze softened at the sight of his home.

* * *

"Yes, Ling?"

"Lao reports Godzilla escaped."

"What?" Chiang sprang to his. The chair slammed against the wall. He hammered his fist on the desk and stormed across the room.

Ling recoiled. He had struck her before when he was enraged.

Chiang exhaled and his rage seemed to fade away. He smiled fatherly. "Fine. Tell Lao we will use our original test subject instead."

* * *

Godzilla descended the mountain slope, into a forest among the foothills. His senses told him he was in familiar territory. The vegetation gave off the same scent. The birds sang the same songs. Yet, the forest smell was much richer and the bird songs more vibrant. The trees were of the correct species, but why did they tower over him? They should be no higher than his waist. He filed through his memories, recalling his strange experiences: Buried in ice, swathed in silk, taken to another world. Which world was this that it would mimic the one he knew on such a grand scale?

He stopped before a pond. Its glassy surface reflected his features. He had never seen his face before. With one eye on the water, Godzilla viewed himself at different angles. He grunted in admiration. Surely, if there were a female about, she would find him a fetching mate.

Then a human tramped out into the open from the underbrush. Godzilla drew in his breath, ready to scorch the creature. Frightened opponents sometimes attacked. This one only pointed at him and screamed that same cry he had heard so often: "It's Godzilla!"

Shindo and Yomo soared over the foothills outsideTokyoin a Huey chopper. Yomo was at the stick while Shindo scanned the woods with a pair of binoculars.

"I don't understand this, Shindo. Did we read the report right?"

"Yes, sir. At 11:45 a.m. a hiker spotted Godzilla along the trail on the eastern slope ofMountKumotori."

"I bet he was a foreign tourist, probably bumped into a bear."

The two Japanese agents continued their search, while Godzilla crushed cars and trucks underfoot, cars and trucks manufactured by the Tomy toy company.

Godzilla had wandered into a playground, stepping on the toys left in his path as mothers frantically herded their children to safety. One boy slipped free from his mother's grip and ran up to him.

"Are you Godzilla? Daddy says you raise the cost of living!"

Godzilla regarded this young human which showed neither fear nor hostility.

"Ichi!" his mother cried, grabbing the boy.

Not all the youngsters had adult guardians. Those who didn't huddled behind a chain-link fence to watch Godzilla as he continued forward, passing a Stegosaurus slide. At the sight of the Pteranodon teeter-totter, he became riled.

"He thinks it's Rodan!" the children cried out.

Godzilla blasted the teeter-totter with his atomic breath. Its wooden wings lit up spectacularly and its metal head drooped into slag. The children clapped and cheered.

Sensing their adoration, he cocked his head and flicked his tail in pride.

In the helicopter overMountKumotori, Yomo pressed his headphones close to his ear. "Say again, Chief. Godzilla has been sighted? Where? A small park in theTakasakisuburbs?"

Shindo located the area on the map. "Wait a minute! How did Godzilla get from the mountains to here without being spotted?" He traced the distance with his finger.

"I don't know. But you heard the Chief. He says check it out."

Back on the ground, Godzilla roamed deeper into the city, following the scent of food through the side streets. Restaurants he bypassed because of the spicy odor, but when approached a grocery store, the scent of fresh fish drew him through the open door.

At the register, the proprietor was chatting with a customer. The store owner's jaw dropped when Godzilla lumbered toward them. The customer, however, gushed over how adorable Godzilla looked. She thought Godzilla was the owner's partner, Chinji.

"Chinji," she beamed, "are you using monsters now to attract customers? Your costumes are looking more realistic all the time." She rubbed Godzilla's chest. Her amusement erupted into horror. "Oh my God, it is real!"

Godzilla sidestepped the screaming woman and gorged himself on the slabs of salmon and tuna spread out on a bed of ice, while Shindo and Yomo were reaching their wits end trying to find him.

Yamashita radioed another update. "What?" Yomo replied, incredulous. "Godzilla is inTakasaki?"

"Impossible!" Shindo retorted. "Chief, listen. We can see the entire city from our present location. If Godzilla's down there we'd be looking at a trail of destruction from here back to the mountains. We have yet to see so much as an overturned car."

They followed orders anyway and searched the heart of the city, flying the chopper over the very alley Godzilla was traversing. He reached theNakasendo Highwayand peered over a parked Corolla. The vehicle's owner rolled down the window and yelled, "Godzilla! Godzilla! Run!"

Out of reflex, the pedestrians bolted, but when they didn't see Godzilla looming over the rooftops, they turned around glaring at the man, ready to box his ears until they saw their greatest fear step out of the alley, standing at a mere six feet tall.

They stared at Godzilla.

He stared back.

No one moved.

An awkward silence hung over the populace and their shrunken antagonist. The only sound came from idling cars.

At first relief swept through the people. Godzilla was no longer able to destroy their homes and businesses. Then they realized the tables had been turned. "This is it!" one person shouted. "Call the police. Godzilla's small enough to be killed."

"Forget the police," said another. "Let's kill him ourselves!"

The mob revved up their nerve, chanting, "Kill him! Kill him!"

Godzilla couldn't burn his way through the crowd with his atomic heat ray. There were too many of them, too many cars, too many buildings, just too much. For the first time he couldn't go where he pleased. Their animosity toward him made him feel like an intruder in someone else's territory. He was unwanted in an unfamiliar world.

Godzilla's shoulders slumped. He turned and lumbered back down the alley.

The chanting faded as the people, despite their anger, found sympathy for him. Like a lion sheared of his mane, Godzilla had been humbled by his loss of size.

* * *

"Again our top story: Godzilla 'raged a trail of destruction' throughTakasakitoday. First being spotted along a hiking trail onMountKumotori, he crushed toy trucks, destroyed playground equipment, and devoured eighty pounds of fish." Anchorwoman Mahiko concluded her broadcast with a mirthful smile. "Total damage amounted to about twelve hundred U.S. dollars."

Yamashita switched off the TV set and tossed the remote onto his desk. "All right, what do we have so far?"

Yomo read off from his note pad. "We have an unknown party kidnap the Shobijin and a two-meter tall Godzilla, presumably the same Godzilla we all have come to know and dread, terrorizeTakasaki. All within twenty four hours."

"My theory is," spoke Yamashita, "the same party is behind both incidents. This party has a base on our home islands. The police will keep us posted of anymore Godzilla sightings. I want you two to find the base."

Shindo stood up. "We'll start where Godzilla was first sighted. Come on, Yomo. Back toMountKumotori."

Gary and the single Shobijin were enjoying brunch. Because of her small mouth,Gary prepared a saucer of mashed banana and watermelon. She was content to sit on the kitchen table, unconcerned about being harmed either purposely or accidentally by her much larger even more amazed at how quickly he became accustomed to conversing with a person who was no bigger than a cat.

"So anyway, my father is an executive for Ford Motors. He sent me to Tokyo University for marketing and business management. That way I will know how the Japanese do business here so I can help expand our market share. That's my story. What's yours?"

"I am from Infant Island. It is located near the Polynesian Islands. This is where I and my sister live."

"You have a sister? Where's she?"

Her gaze clouded in sadness. "With her captors."

"Captors? I figured your story would be more interesting than mine. So who kidnapped her?"

"Nearly a month ago six shipwreck survivors arrived on the shore of our island..."

Satin embraced the Chief of the island. "Thank you for helping us!" Her five hired guns tended to some heavily packed duffle bags in the lifeboats. They were dressed as upper-middle class tourists—shorts, blouses, and such.

"How did your boat sink on a clear day?"

"Ask the captain of our cruise ship," she told the Chief. "I'm not a sailor."

The Chief was suspicious, but he must uphold the principles of his people. After all, this was the Isle of Peace. "Very well. We offer our hospitality."

"Oh, thank you!" Satin clasped his hand with both of hers. "I promise you we won't trouble you for long."

Later in the day the Chief and the tribal leaders gathered before the Shobijin in the Court of Happiness. Mothra rested in her cocoon, which was inside a massive recess overlooking the cavernous chamber. The giant insect was in her transition stage between her caterpillar and moth forms.

"I feel ill at ease having them here," the Chief said. "What have you learned when you spoke with them?"

The Twin Fairies answered in unison. "You are right to be wary. Tonight keep the families in their homes and have the warriors surround the village. No one is to venture out while the outsiders are here."

"What are they planning to do?"

The Twin Fairies didn't reply.

"Answer us, please!" The Chief would not accept their silence.

"They will get what they want regardless. Don't try to stop them. Avoid them. By tomorrow they will be gone. We have given our counsel," the Fairies said with finality. "Please trust us."

That night a caretaker administered to his duties in the Court of Happiness, despite the curfew. Satin and Faora were up on a ledge above Mothra's cocoon operating a pulley. A cable extended from the pulley to the floor where Celeste was waiting with the Shobijin's ornate carrying case at her feet. The other three members of Satin's gang stood watch from different points inside the massive chamber. All of them had geared up in their black combat fatigues.

The caretaker stepped in just as Satin released a valve to a cylinder. A foul-smelling liquid poured from the container to Mothra's cocoon, dissolving a hole into the silken shell.

"Infidels!" the caretaker yelled. He fled from the temple under a hail of submachine gun fire. "Guards! Mothra is being attacked!"

"Terrific," Satin muttered. "Faora, hook up the second cylinder. Hurry! Celeste, get the Fairies out here. The rest of you join her at the rendezvous point!"

Celeste grabbed the case containing the Shobijin and bolted out the side exit followed by Eva, Stanzi, and Felicia.

"Second cylinder set and ready," Faora said.

Quickly, Satin released the valve to a larger container. The second dose of acid poured into the cocoon. Flesh crackled from within, sounding like grease sizzling on a hot pan. Smoke poured out of the hole in the cocoon, filling the chamber with a gruesome odor.

The warriors stormed through the main entrance. Satin and Faora pulled back the bolts to their MP5K machine pistols. "Here they come." Satin slapped Faora on the shoulder. "You first. I'll cover."

As the warriors rushed across the floor armed with spears and torches, Satin threw a smoke grenade in their midst. A dense cloud spat from the canister, quickly enveloping the men. In the confusion, Faora hooked herself to the cable, slid down to the floor, and exited the side door.

The guards emerged from the smoke. Satin raked their feet with a long burst from her gun, sending them skittering back into the smoke cloud. The reverberations of her gun violated the sacred hall of the Court of Happiness.

She then slid down the cable and bounded out the side exit, through a cave, reloading her weapon on the run. Once Satin reached the mouth of the cave, she hit the dirt. The natives were waiting for her, as she had expected. A line of archers let loose a volley of arrows. As they strung fresh arrows Satin popped up, created a breech in their line with a few short-controlled bursts, gunning down several warriors, and then ran through the gap, slapping in yet another fresh magazine on her way to the rendezvous point.

A black Mi-8 roared overhead with a blinding spotlight. A rope ladder unrolled from its side door. Satin grabbed hold and the copter pulled her up as the warriors regrouped and fired a criss-cross of arrows and spears…

"From Satin we were left in the hands of a criminal named Muka," Mothra's Fairy concluded her story. "We were forced to sing while two other prisoners pretended to sing on stage. Muka profited from our singing till Satin came back for us. I escaped."

Garysat there with his food cold. "So where do you think they took her?"

"To a man called Chiang Mi Shek."

"A Chinese? How do you know?"

"We are mentally linked. We always know where each other are."

"You're telepathic?"

She nodded. "That is why Chiang wanted us."

"No way."Gary reconsidered. "OK, what am I thinking now?"

She smiled. "Strawberries."

"Hah! I was thinking of ice cream."

"Yes, but strawberry ice cream is your favorite."

Garylooked at her slyly. "Very cute. So what's your name?"

"Name?"

"Yeah. Name. I'm sure you don't want to be called 'hey you.'"

"'Hey you' does have its charm," the Fairy mused.

"Come on. Is this something taboo? Out with it."

"Lilla," she said.

Gary couldn't tell if she meant what she said or not. "Is that your real name?"

"Don't you like it? I can give you another."

"I just want your real name."

"Lilla."

"Are you sure?"

She cocked her brow at him.

"All right."Garythrew up his hands. "Have it your way. How about your sister?"

"My sister's name is Arana."

"There. That wasn't so bad was it? Look, I hope you find your sister. In the meantime you can stay with me as long as you like. Need anything—ask."

Lilla nodded her thanks. "I shall. First, I need you to rent a van."

"A van?"Garywondered what he just volunteered himself for.

Gary paced around with his hands in his pockets wondering what was supposed to happen next. The hour was late. The van was parked in a narrow alley with the backseats removed and a plate piled high with fresh tuna lying on the van's floor. Lilla watched the alley from a sill of a bricked up window.

An odd scuffling noise scraped in the darkness. Something completely inhuman stepped into the 's mouth hung open, wanting for words. Everything Lilla had asked him to do suddenly made sense.

"Evening, Godzilla!" Lilla hailed. She gave the creature an effusive smile, although she didn't speak. She transmitted her words telepathically.

Godzilla reeled his head back. It appeared the yellow rays had affected one of the Twin Fairies. Before, he could only sense the Twin Fairies' presence. They were too small to be seen. This Fairy was large enough to sit in the palm of his hand.

He then hissed at Gary.

"Show him your friendly, Gary. He does not like your fear."

"Well, excuse me!"

"Do not be afraid of him," Lilla consoled Godzilla, resuming telepathic speech. "He is our friend."

Godzilla scowled at her. Me? Afraid? I just don't approve of your company, he replied in thought.

"Oh, if you insist! I am here for a reason. Like you, I can't get home. Maybe, if we work together, you can return to the sea and I to my island."

Godzilla was skeptical. Mothra and the Twin Fairies had teamed up against him in the past. Later they sought his and Rodan's help to fight Ghidrah. Where his welfare was concerned they were inconsistent.

"I understand your misgivings," Lilla said to Godzilla. "But you were a threat to mankind. Remember, we never tried to harm you. We only restrained you. Besides, Mothra is hurt. It's not certain if she will recover. We are alone now. Just you and I."

"What are you doing?"Garyasked Lilla.

"Shh! I am speaking to Godzilla."

"With telepathy? Does he understand?"

"Of course. Thought is universal."

Godzilla yearned for home. However, trusting someone went against his sense of independence. However, the Fairy seemed to have the human under control, perhaps a temporary alliance would be acceptable.

"Godzilla agrees!Gary, open the back door."

Godzilla peered into the van. He didn't like the idea of climbing into man-made machine, and the fish made things too inviting, like bait to a trap. He grunted in disapproval.

"The van is too fast for you to follow us on foot," Lilla said, answering his thoughts.

Godzilla's discontent deepened. He didn't have much of a choice. It was either cooperate with a former adversary or wander these backstreets forever. With a guttural sigh Godzilla approached the van.


	3. Chapter 3

**Attack of the Super Allosaurus**

By Neil Riebe

Chapter 3

Secretary General, Friedrich Holstein, and two of his colleagues from the United Nations Security Council, U.S. representative Douglas Thorne and UK representative John Chambers sat across from an unusual video communication device which had been delivered to the UN earlier that morning. Security had checked the device and briefed the UN representatives.

Holstein nodded to the camera crew to begin taping the event and then spoke to Thorne and Chambers. "Gentlemen, without any further delay we should see what this is about." He motioned to the staffer. "If you please."

The staffer switched on the video communicator. Its screen flashed, displaying "Please stand by." Shortly, a face appeared. Chiang's.

"Good afternoon, General Secretary, and who is this?" Chiang leaned forward. "Doug Thorne of the United States, home of the world's most powerful military, and John Chambers of the former British Empire, home of the world's largest foreign exchange market. Guns and money. It's funny how often those two travel together, usually with gangsters."

Thorne clenched his jaw, annoyed. Chambers retained his nonchalance and spoke. "That's an amusing juxtaposition but I'm sure you didn't go to the trouble of delivering this communicator to give us a bit of cheek."

"Indeed," Chiang nodded. "I'm here to speak on behalf of the rest of the world."

"I'm sure the rest of the world finds that thoughtful of you," Chambers replied, dishing out a bit of his own cheek. "Now which part of the rest of the world are we referring to?"

In effort to maintain a semblance of formality, Holstein squeezed the wrist of the representative from Great Britain to hold his peace. "Who are you?"

Chiang smiled sociably. "Just a 'Friend'. I will disclose my identity provided you will lend me your attention."

The three UN men conferred among themselves, agreeing to listen. "Please proceed," Holstein said.

"I'll keep this simple," Chiang said. "We live in a world where people are perishing from starvation, poverty, and disease—curable diseases—while at the same time resources are in abundance to cure these ills. Too much wealth is locked in too few hands. Yes, that's an old saw. What's criminal is that this truth has been around for so long it has become an old saw.

"Now," Chiang smiled, "here's what I propose. One: erase national boundaries. Boundaries are an anachronism in an age in which we recognize universal brotherhood. Two: standardize the economy and maintain a single currency. Three: establish a global standard for health and prosperity that all are party to. In essence, unite the world under one government—the United Nations."

"What you're asking is not even remotely feasible," Holstein said.

"Hear me out. Throughout history mankind has progressively united into larger groups. Families formed clans, which formed tribes. Tribes evolved into nations. Nations forged power blocs. My proposal is the next logical step."

Chambers fold his hands. "Sir, a one world government is a hard sell. A lot of civil servants would feel a little put out." Thorne chuckled. Chambers continued flatly, "And if you think you can tempt us by offering power you are terribly mistaken."

"Chambers, sovereignty is a smoke screen for pride and selfishness. If you were to offer a starving child the choice between food and his flag, his selection would be obvious. This is the issue I bring before you."

"We all agree the world has problems," Holstein said. "But until we know who you are and can ascertain the state of your mental stability we are not in a position to deal with you."

"My thoughts exactly," Thorne added, "what leverage do you have to make anyone consider such a proposal?"

Chiang snapped his fingers to someone off screen. His image switched to a view of San Francisco Bay. "What you see is live. Watch the water closely."

An object slid just below the surface, leaving a foamy trail in its wake as it swam parallel to the bustling San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and slipped behind a cargo ship. Then a spray of water spouted over the vessel as a bellowing prehistoric beast thrust its head into view. The creature clambered onto the ship, crushing the superstructure in its grip. Beams of light shafted from its mouth and scaly pods from its shoulders, blasting the docks, leaving a trail of explosions and issuing flames. The cargo ship split in two under the creature's weight. The beast waded ashore where it nimbly climbed out of the bay and trampled through the flaming wreckage. Its tail slapped across the face of the Ferry Building's clock tower.

"The animal you see," Chiang spoke over the picture, "is a descendant of the carnivorous theropods from the Mesozoic era. I found him miraculously preserved in suspended animation in the arctic ice. Note how fast this giant can move when he has the inclination."

The dinosaur stormed out of view. The picture switched to Market Street in the heart of the San Francisco's financial district. Here the monster sank its razor-edged teeth into the cars and buses with the zest of a demented child while the energy beams spewing from the shoulder pods cut like buzz saws through the glittering skyscrapers. The streets became kicked-over anthills of people scrambling in every conceivable direction, their screams silenced under falling rubble. The sights of destruction left the three UN men mortified.

"Gentlemen," Chaing's image returned, "I suggest you present my proposal to the Assembly. For the sake of the people of the world I will not allow you to forsake your responsibility to them. You have from now until my servant reaches you in the UN headquarters in New York City to come to a decision."

* * *

Godzilla meticulously examined his surroundings in the living room of Gary's cottage. The lamp drew his attention. Could this be what lit the human habitats at night? He squinted at the bulb and reached toward it, feeling its warmth on his palm.

Gary dropped his forehead into his hand at the sound of the crash. "I think I am going to have a headache."

Perplexed over loosing the lamp's glow, Godzilla squatted down, nudging the lamp's fragments with his snout as though he were trying to coax it back to life. Gary held his breath as Godzilla's tail swung within inches of the ceiling fan.

"Aw," Lilla cooed from the safety of the kitchen table. "I never thought there would be a day Godzilla could be so cute."

Gary spun around to Mothra's Fairy, sputtering in a tight whisper, "Yeah, sure, what are we going to do when big G comes looking for his little squirt here?"

Lilla nearly laughed. "That IS Godzilla. Not his son."

"Are you sure it's him?" Gary scratched the back of his head. "Godzilla is supposed to be huge."

"I will explain everything in the morning. In the meantime, as you can see, he is quite peaceful. He will not hurt you." Lilla touched his arm. "Besides how many people will ever be able to say they played host to Godzilla?"

As Godzilla drowsily paced around the darkened room, Gary imagined the stories he could tell and the photos he could share. Godzilla and one of Mothra's Fairies spent the night at my place, and I got the pictures to prove it! "You're right! Even if this doesn't turn out to be fun it will at least be interesting. OK," he rubbed his hands together. "We will need some sleeping arrangements."

Suddenly the house shook from a loud crash. Gary popped back into the living room, finding Godzilla stretched across the floor. "He's not sick is he?" He knelt behind Godzilla's head with his knees thumping the floor. Before Lilla could utter a breath, Godzilla's jaws snapped at Gary's outstretched hand. Gary flew back against the sofa with his hand held high.

Godzilla drew in a throaty hiss through his barred teeth. Gary carefully backed off, returning to Lilla in the kitchen. Godzilla eyed him the entire time with an icy glare.

"You should not have approached from behind his head like that," Lilla said. "That is very threatening to him."

"I don't want that to happen again," Gary said, dead serious.

Godzilla settled his head down and nuzzled it into the floor.

"It won't. I promise you."

"Well, I guess that will be his spot. Now you." Gary dug out a shoebox, cut open one side so Lilla could get in and out. For bedding he put in the softest hand towels. Giving Godzilla a wide girth, he placed her bed on the low platform of the _tokonoma in the corner of the room._

Gary stacked his textbooks to form stairs to the top.

Lilla nodded her thanks and scaled up to her sleeping quarters.

He wished her good night. She returned the same. On his way to bed he stopped at the mouth of the hall. His hand rested on the light switch. "So tell me, why did you come here?"

Lilla seemed to weigh carefully what she should say. "I came to your cottage because it's in a safe place up here in the foothills outside Tokyo. Also, my sister isn't far from here."

"No kidding?"

"Gary," Lilla became somber, "Chiang has begun a terrible thing. He wanted to use my sister and me to control Godzilla, and through Godzilla the world. He lost me. He lost Godzilla. But he still has another monster, and he is using my sister's telepathy to control him."

"Another monster? Which one? Rodan? Angilas? Baragon?"

Lilla shook her head. "All that can wait. For now we should get some sleep."

* * *

Godzilla rose at dawn and lumbered into the kitchen where Lilla was washing herself in a mixing bowl. "Hungry?"

Godzilla exhaled a raspy sigh.

"Try in there." Lilla pointed to the refrigerator. She gave him a mental picture on how to open the door.

Godzilla hooked his claws around the handle and pulled. Cold air wafted at him. He found left over tuna, polished it off, and then poked at the curious red meat in a Styrofoam tray, wrapped in clear plastic.

Gary awoke midmorning, bleary-eyed and bushy-tailed. He heard Lilla's gentle voice in the kitchen.

"Godzilla, will you please tip the bowl over in the sink. No, don't drink from it! That's bath water."

"Good morning," Lilla greeted Gary when he checked on them. She was on the counter, stroking back her wet hair. A towel was wrapped around her glistening, wet body.

Godzilla stood with a mixing bowl in his claws and water dripping from his jaws. Gary passed on asking what was going on.

After living in Japan for a year, the indigenous language registered in his head as easily as his own native tongue. So when the Fairy said "good morning" it took Gary a sleepy second to realize she didn't say the Japanese equivalent: _Ohayo._

"Did you just speak English?" he asked.

The Fairy nodded. She must have learned his language by reading his mind.

"Don't go the trouble speaking English," Gary said. "I am almost as fluent in Japanese."

"I'm not Japanese anymore than you," the Fairy said.

The same could be said of Godzilla. All three of them were strangers in a foreign land.

"All right," Gary conceded. "Look, I'm going into town to get you guys something to eat. You're going to be cool here by yourselves?"

"Of course."

"Great," Gary headed for the shower. "Just don't burn the house down or anything—whoa!" He rushed back into the kitchen. "I just remembered. Can he still shoot that radioactive fire from his mouth?"

"Certainly."

Gary turned pale.

Godzilla appeared to sense some sort of fuss. He looked to the Fairy. She pointed to her open mouth and grinned. Godzilla then grunted to Gary in such a deadpan manner he seemed to say, yes, I can burn down the cottage if that be your desire.

Gary put his faith in Lilla to keep Godzilla in check and headed for the bathroom to shave and shower, and headed into town.

"Now, my friend," Lilla said to Godzilla, once they were alone, "it is time you know the truth." She explained what they were up against and what she wanted of him.

To fight? Godzilla did not want to make a habit in fighting Mothra's battles. Besides he had a score to settle with Rodan.

"You and Rodan have all the time in the world to quarrel. Right now you are too small to fight him."

Godzilla cocked his head.

"The world did not change. You did. The man I spoke of, Chiang Mi Shek, has made you small. How, I can't explain. I am not familiar with man's science. But Chiang has one powerful weapon: his dinosaur slave." She gave him a mental picture.

Godzilla recognized that creature. Its kind was the top predator of the Jurassic floodplains. Packs of these carnivores had migrated over a land bridge, populating the continents on either side of the Pacific. Driven from both shores, Godzilla's lineage had no choice but adapt to life in the sea. To think one of those predators still lived. Godzilla roared. He would fight!

Lilla covered her ears. "In time! Be patient! First we need to get into Chiang's base. Somewhere in there should be a means to restore you to your original size." She related how Satin's gang poisoned Mothra in her cocoon and recommended they wait until her health returned.

Godzilla wanted to know what she planned to do if Mothra didn't survive.

"Persevere without her," she said. "If we are to be friends we must trust each other. I trust you, and to prove it I ask you to hold me." She held out her arms from her sides.

Friendship was an obscure concept. Godzilla understood rival, mate, and offspring. She was trying to draw close to him in a way which ran tangent of mate. If friendship improved her survivability, perhaps he should adapt. He picked up her delicate body to see where this was going to lead.

"Now, Godzilla, if you feel I do not hold your interests equal with my own, if you feel I intend to exploit you, then crush me."

Godzilla flexed his fingers. Her ribs buckled from the slightest bit of pressure.

Lilla accepted the incredible temptation she put before him. This had to be settled. If she did not have him as her ally then all was lost. She did not beg for mercy or even flinch.

Godzilla decided she meant what she said or she would have shown some sign of fear. He loosened his grip and gingerly set her down.

Lilla sensed his willingness to learn what it means to be a friend. "I thank you for your trust, Godzilla." She pressed her palms together and bowed to him. "May our bond bring success against our enemies."

Out in the bright sun, Godzilla set Lilla down on the stone fence which bordered the front yard of Gary's cottage. The lone Fairy out stretched her arms toward Infant Island and sang "Ma-ahal Ma-ahal Mo-su-ra!"

Her sister, Arana, joined her even though Chiang had her strapped down on her back and her head wired to his telepathic transmitter. Her singing distracted Chiang's technicians in the control room. Colonel Lao drew his pistol and offered to silence her. Chiang waved him off with his hand.

"Threats will do no good. She knows her value to our operation."

On Infant Island, within the Court of Happiness, the islanders prayed as they had done so without ceasing for months, begging Mothra to return.

Mothra's spirit yet lingered in this earthly plane. She linked with her Twin Fairies in a telepathic triangle. Just as music could uplift the soul, Mothra drew strength from the Fairies' singing. However, the state of Mothra's body within her penetrated cocoon would cast doubt on whether she could recover, but Mothra and the Twin Fairies did not waste energy on doubt. Mothra assured them she would return. She asked for patience.

While the islanders in the Court of Happiness danced and prayed in Mothra's honor, the hole in the cocoon sealed with fresh silk.

* * *

At the UN, Secretary General Friedrich Holstein, in order to keep the UN apprised of the threat, called in one of the foremost dinosaur paleontologists. "Ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly," he announced over the microphone, "Doctor Arnold Johnson, curator of the New York Museum of Natural History."

Dr. Johnson received a shower of applause as he joined Holstein at the lectern.

"Good afternoon," Dr. Johnson motioned for everyone to be seated. "I am honored to serve again as your advisor. It seems only yesterday I had been invited here during the King Kong/Godzilla Crisis."

A few chuckles came from those who remembered.

Johnson cleared his throat. "I suppose that was quite a while ago. Lights, please."

The lights dimmed. Dr. Johnson put up on the projection screen a photo of Chiang's monster. The good doctor pronounced "reptile" in his characteristic way as "reptil."

"This snapshot depicts a reptil never before seen in the fossil record. Its size is equivalent to the creatures which have been surfacing around Japan over the past thirty-plus years. Comparing him to the buildings in the photo, I estimate this reptil to be about 45 meters tall and 95 meters long. But unlike the others," Dr. Arnold switched to an illustration comparing Chiang's monster to Baragon, Godzilla, and Varan, "this new creature resembles a conventional dinosaur with the tail acting as a counterbalance to the body." He ran his pointer along the spine of Chiang's monster.

Dr. Johnson put another photo of Chiang's beast up on the projection screen.

"Even though we have no fossils of this animal, it has characteristics of known specimens of Allosaurus. Lachrymal horns," Dr. Johnson indicated the sharpened ridges above the eyes. "Laterally compressed teeth for shearing flesh. Three digits on the forelimb. Hence, I've designated it as _Allosaurus supernus. Or, if you will, Super Allosaurus."_

Dr. Johnson pointed to the shoulder pods.

"Now this is where the details become disturbing. These shoulder pods are not natural. How they generate the energy to fire those lethal beams I cannot say, nor can I account for the beams the Super Allosaurus fires from its mouth. Perhaps they draw from the reptil's metabolism. Also, this animal has exhibited behavior which suggests its being remotely controlled. As one witness put it, 'it acts as if it has a bit in its mouth.' The only thing that is clear is that the Super Allosaurus was bio-engineered to function as a weapon of mass destruction."

An uneasy silence hung in the air.

* * *

Out on the Nevada wastelands, Sergeant Conway sat atop his M3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. With his binoculars he focused on the Super Allosaurus, which was scratching around in the dust and cactus scrub. "This is Recon 1," Conway spoke into his headset. "Target spotted."

His message relayed to the president's oval office in Washington DC.

"Mr. President," the Secretary of Defense said, "Recon 1 verified the dinosaur's location. It's entering the Nellis Air Force firing range. We couldn't ask for anything better."

Could we? The President wondered. He worked a pen within his fingers as he watched the video link displaying the dinosaur. "Where are our bombers?"

"First wave is ten minutes from target."

Meanwhile, Chiang lounged in his seat in the control room of his hidden base. "Hold our dinosaur where he is. I want the Americans to hit us with their best shot."

Chiang's telepathic transmitter projected what the Super Allosaurus could see on the main screen. Subsidiary screens displayed images from the artificial eyes grafted into the pods. His technicians operated controls which initiated commands to move, turn, and fire as well as monitor the creature's health and fatigue levels.

Sergeant Conway and his team sat tight in their armored vehicle, watching the Super Allosaurus toss its head and nip at the hot, dry air as if it were trying to snip at an invisible leash.

The skies shook as formation after formation of strategic bombers unleashed their cruise missiles. The very Earth seemed to toss and heave great chunks of its flesh as the warheads streaked in and pummeled their target. Smoke and fire enveloped the Super Allosaurus. A second wave of missiles drowned out the dinosaur's wails.

Arana sensed the animal's agony through the telepathic link. "Chiang, at least let him shoot the missiles!"

Chiang noted on his own control panel that the dinosaur's heart rate was high and the pain levels indicated bruising to the left hip, ribs, and shins.

A third wave of warheads pounded Super Allosaurus. He staggered within a pall of black smoke and a fog of brown dust. Two more hits struck like hammer blows to the head.

"Mr. President," spoke the Secretary of Defense, "he's weakening."

"Good! Deploy the final wave of missiles and send in the fighter bombers. Let's polish him off."

At last Chiang acted. "The president must be feeling cocky by now," he said to his technicians. "Give him a shock."

His shoulder pod gunners opened fire. Plasma beams flashed out of the brown-black fog and blasted the last wave of cruise missiles with such rapid efficiency it was a forgone conclusion what would happen to the fighter bombers once they got within range.

The President jumped to his feet. "Abort the bomber run!"

The planes were coming in too fast and the range of the dinosaur's shoulder pods was too long to get out of harm's way. The order was obeyed all the same. The planes dropped their ordnance and banked to withdraw from the field. They were easy pickings. Like the missiles, not one pilot escaped.

"Mr. President, Recon 1 reports all planes destroyed."

The President mopped his brow. "It's the army's turn now."

Out on the Air Force range, the Super Allosaurus came stalking out of the clouds of smoke and dust, furious from the punishment he endured.

A brigade of Abrams tanks squatted in their revetments, waiting for him. They screened for the artillery units in the rear. Multiple rocket launchers and the 155mm guns fired. Their shells and rockets delivered an impressive display of smoke and thunder, and that was the best that could be said: it was a fine display.

Chiang took advantage of the dinosaur's speed and agility, ordering him to hop out of the target point. The might of the American military looked slow and clumsy as the shells and rockets rained down, peppering open ground with craters.

"Let's finish this up," Chiang stifled a yawn. "Engage the tanks."

Super Allosaurus split open its jaws and spewed its beam on the Abrams furthest to the right, melting it into bubbling slag, and spread the beam across the first phalanx.

The Americans tried maneuvering their vehicles to the flanks, probing for weak points. As a predator, the Super Allosaurus had no weak points. He was all muscle and sinew. The tank shells popped like firecrackers off his thick hide, registering little more as a skin irritation on the health monitors in Chiang's control room.

Chiang assumed control of the energy discharger in the dinosaur's mouth and took cruel delight in helping his pod gunners destroy the American armor.

The monitors in the Oval Office showed the army crumbling.

"Mr. Secretary," the President swallowed hard, "order a retreat."

By then morale had already broken. Soldiers scrambled for any vehicle that would take them. The Super Allosaurus crushed many underfoot. The energy beams ignited ammo dumps. There were enough artillery and tank shells stockpiled on the field to sustain a prolonged engagement; and they exploded spectacularly, shredding fleeing troops with shell fragments. Chiang's shoulder pod gunners burned rows of trucks and armored personnel carriers, eliminating any rapid means of escape. They fired on the tents, killing commanding officers, breaking down any semblance of command and control.

The United Nations also received a video feed monitoring the battle. Secretary General Friedrich Holstein returned to the lectern. "Kill the feed."

The staff terminated the video link and brought up the lights.

Friedrich motioned for Chiang's video communicator be brought to the front of the assembly chamber.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly," he said in a subdued voice, "it's time to discuss under what terms we are willing to cooperate with Mr. Chiang Mi Shek."


	4. Chapter 4

**Attack of the Super Allosaurus**

**By Neil Riebe**

Chapter 4

After Chiang announced his demands to the world, Shindo and Yomo's investigation switched from searching for Chiang's base to investigating the mad scientist's background. However, Beijing treated Chiang as a private matter between them and the United States. Formal requests for information were denied.

"We told them about the shootout at Muka's club," Yomo told Yamashita, "that Muka may have been cooperating with Chiang in regard to the abduction of the Shobijin. We reminded them of the sightings of the miniaturized Godzilla." He shrugged. "They couldn't see any correlation. As far as the Chinese and the Americans are concerned Japan has no vested interest. I guess I can't blame them. Our evidence is inconclusive."

"You're telling me you two got nothing?" Yamashita harrumphed. "What about that vaunted network of contacts of yours, Shindo?"

"The information is second hand."

"Let's hear it, anyway."

"My contact in the Chinese embassy said she never met Chiang."

"She?" Yamashita scowled. He always became nervous when women and Shindo were involved.

"His contacts are always a 'she'," Yomo said, implying Yamashita shouldn't worry. No scandal here.

Shindo rolled his eyes, and started again. "She said she never met Chiang but heard about him. He was a top bioengineer. He pushed to have a political officer paired off with every department head of the Chinese scientific community, something similar to the system in the Red Army. Chiang even volunteered to pick the snoops and snitches who would be overseeing his colleagues. His worry was that China's advancement in science, particularly his work, might fall into foreign hands.

"However, his pushing for tighter control came at a time when his government was seeking to moderate their country, at least in the eyes of the rest of the world. An exchange of knowledge has always been an easy way to present an intellectual and peaceful front. Chiang's demands ran counter to policy. In public he was dubbed headstrong. In private the government considered him a head case, even among hardliners.

"Consequently, Chiang felt betrayed. He resigned his post and disappeared with his eighteen-year-old mistress along and an army colonel named Ming Lao. The colonel's disappearance drew interest because Lao was Chiang's choice to oversee his bureau of snitches. The three of them vanished five years ago."

"It seems like no sooner we stamp out one madman another pops up," Yamashita lamented, wringing his thick hands on his desk.

"Chiang isn't anymore mad than your next door neighbor," Shindo countered.

Yomo and Yamashita looked at him incredulously.

"He's high on his own fumes," Shindo clarified. "Think of the hypocrites you've known. They absolve themselves from judgment, which is why they don't seem to have a conscience. In terms of religion we call them fundamentalists. Put a gun in their hands they become terrorists.

"Chiang is a political fundamentalist. The only difference between him and your garden-variety hypocrite is that he wields a very big gun."

* * *

After the battle, Chiang allowed Super Allosaurus a well-deserved rest. The technicians also took a break, leaving Ling by herself in the control room with Mothra's other Fairy. It was her duty to feed and tend to Arana's hygiene. She unclipped the restraints so the twelve-inch tall, raven-haired girl could get up from the hard bench and stretch.

"May I?" The Fairy gripped the headset that wired her to Chiang's telepathic transmitter.

"Leave it," Ling said sharply.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't try to escape."

Ling turned a skeptical eye on her.

"I know, Ling, my leaving would bring you harm. I would not do that to you."

Ling scooped a bit of baby food onto a saucer and filled a thimble with water and set them on the table within Arana's reach. "Since you know my name, what's yours?"

"I have no name," the Fairy said. "My sister and I have no people. So we need no names."

"You don't trust me."

The Fairy veered from the subject. "I sense your loyalties are divided. Why do you stay with Chiang?"

"You're a telepath," Ling said with a grim sort of grin. "You tell me."

"You should hear the reason from your own lips."

"Why?"

"Because it is easier to lie to ourselves when we stay silent."

The Fairy sat down before the saucer and picked up the thimble. "Join me?"

Ling grimaced at the baby food. "If it will make you eat," she said and skimmed a dab out of the jar.

"I wouldn't leave Chiang." Ling spoke softly as though she were trying to hide her feelings. Perhaps if she had been asked at another time she would have said she loved him. Now, all she had was her pride, wounded from loving the wrong man.

"If you really can read minds, then you know where I came from and what I did to survive." Ling's smooth little cheeks turned red with shame. "You live on an island. So you don't understand. In the civilized world, when you have nothing you are nothing." Her slight frame trembled. "Chiang will wipe out poverty. It doesn't matter what goes on between us. I do what I do for the future so no one has to live the way I did."

"Chiang looks down on you," the Fairy said, "which proves he does not believe all people are equal as he says he does. If he can make an exception of you, he'll make an exception of others."

Ling gave the Fairy a pained look. The reasoning was irrefutable. Ling should leave Chiang. But emotional bonds are strong. They run deep.

* * *

"Hey, he used his tail! That's not fair!" The ball bounced at Gary's feet.

"Godzilla scores a point."

"Lilla, he can't use his tail in volleyball!"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have a tail. It's like he gets to play with one extra hand."

Lilla put her fists to her hips. "Are we having tail-envy?" For being a mysterious girl from an exotic island, she picked up American mannerisms quickly and teased him with them with the skill of a guru using village lingo to teach his pupil.

Gary got her point. He didn't like being bested by a 'dumb' animal. "No, I'm not suffering from tail-envy," he retorted. "It's just that…never mind." He poised to serve the ball. One serving three."

Godzilla looked down to Lilla for a translation.

"He means you are winning."

He nodded, fingers flexing energetically.

Gary served the ball. Eager, Godzilla smacked it with a sharp _pimp! _

Shielding his eyes from the sun, Gary watched the ball rise into the air. "It's going...going…" The ball arced and fell beyond the stone fence and rolled into the woods. "And it's gone."

Gary pulled their third ball. The first was still stuck up in a tree. "One-three."

Gary served. Tail poised, Godzilla side stepped and batted it deep and far to the right on Gary's side of the net. Gary dove for the ball. He was not about to be caught off guard twice. He bopped the ball over the net, deep toward the left, outside the reach of Godzilla's tail.

"That's a point, buddy! I'm catching up."

Lilla slipped away and watched the game from a distance. They were having too much fun to notice her absence. She telepathically contacted her sister. "Our plan is working. The boy and Godzilla are becoming friends. Maybe now there will be hope for peace someday between Godzilla and all mankind."

* * *

Since the day the Super Allosaurus had come ashore in the States, Gary kept in touch with his parents in Detroit, comparing notes between the U.S. and Japanese coverage of the ongoing disaster. Consistently, American networks reported lower casualty numbers, showed property damage but no blood, while the Japanese news coincided with the rumors his parents had heard: interstate highways clogged with refugees, food shortages and no running water in affected areas, looting.

"Listen," his mother said, "I want you to stay in Japan till this thing is over. OK? You just stay there!"

"What about you and Dad?"

"Don't worry about us. If the monster heads south of Lake Michigan instead of crossing it, the monster should pass right underneath us." She spoke of the Super Allosaurus as though it were a severe weather front.

"Oh, and one more thing." Her voice became tremulous with emotion. "I've been trying to contact your Aunt Laura in Courtland, California and I keep getting a recorded message that her number is no longer in service! You know she pays her phone bill and Courtland was one of the places hit by the monster. I fear the worst, Gary. I fear the worst."

* * *

The United Nations via Chiang's video transmitter offered to discuss his three-point proposal in order to bring an end to the bloodletting in America. Chiang refused. He would not negotiate while a belligerent nation bore arms against him. "This is a war," he said, "between the poorest people of the world versus the richest nation on Earth. The United States must submit to an unconditional surrender—to me." Then he would talk.

* * *

On his way home from the grocery store, Gary decided to buy something special for Lilla since he already spent a small fortune buying fresh meat for Godzilla. She deserved something, too. He roamed the shops at the mall. His thoughts kicked into gear as his gaze passed over shelves lined with dolls at a toy store. Some of the clothes were so intricately done he started to imagine how they would look on Lilla.

"See anything you like?" asked the clerk.

"Um, sure. Can I look at that one there?"

The clerk brought down a doll in a white Victorian dress. Gary felt the cloth. "It's a little stiff. Do you have anything softer?"

The clerk presented one in a kimono. "Made with real silk."

"Bit small. Need one about a foot, or, ah, 30 centimeters."

Gary came home with a box under his arm. He looked for Lilla. "There you are!" She was sitting in her bed in the alcove. Gary quickly knelt down all a tingle. She went to the edge platform, meeting him with an expectant grin.

"You know I got you something, don't you?"

"Of course. Don't need telepathy to see that!"

"Ha, ha, you're funny. Just so I know you're not losing your edge," Gary set the package on his lap. "Read my mind and tell me what I got you."

The Fairy concentrated for a moment. "Oh, you brought me clothes! You shouldn't have! You have so little money left!"

Gary opened the box and brought out a doll of Eliza Doolittle from _My Fair Lady_.

"A doll?"

"Surprised? To people my size, it's a doll." Gary set the life-like toy in front of her. The living and the inanimate stared eye to eye. "But for someone your size, think of it as a mannequin. I bought the doll so you can have the outfit. I originally wanted the Kimono but the doll was too small. Figure that, huh?"

Lilla removed the clothing from the toy. Godzilla joined them curious on what was going on. Lilla rolled the clothes over her arm, smiled at Gary, and went behind her dressing screen. Godzilla leaned over to see what she was doing with the white bundle.

"Hey, hey!" Gary pulled on Godzilla's arm. "Give the lady some privacy."

Lilla swung into view, strolled to the edge of the platform, turned around and then forward so they could se her dress, twirling the parasol that came with the doll on her shoulder. Gary appreciated her carriage, not to mention how well she filled out the dress.

Lilla showed she could be feminine as well as sing like the angels, tame monsters and read minds. Gary wished…

He wished, but he didn't let his train of thought go too far. Suffice it to say, he wished she were normal size.

When Gary faded from his thoughts he saw Lilla was watching him. A small smile formed on her lips. She discretely turned her attention toward Godzilla.

"What do you think, Godzilla?" Lilla spread out the folds of her dress.

Godzilla looked from her to Gary. He sensed what was in the air. He frowned in disapproval. Gary was totally incompatible for her. He then concentrated on Lilla's dress. Godzilla did not understand why these two made a big deal out of clothes. But then again, he figured, if his hide was a smooth film like theirs he'd cover it, too.

* * *

After razing Chicago, the Super Allosaurus could either go south of the Great Lakes or swim across. Traveling by land would be faster. Therefore, as Gary's mother had predicted, the Super Allosaurus should have swung south.

But it didn't.

Congress was sputtering in argument. The president was increasingly jingoistic, staying the course of his counter-propaganda campaign, while U.S. citizens felt abandoned to fend for themselves. Chiang achieved what he wanted. He reduced the reputation of the United States from the greatest nation on Earth to the greatest embarrassment on Earth.

The world lost its one lone super power. Power hated a vacuum and Chiang was eager to fill that vacuum. So to circumvent battles on land, Chiang sent the Super Allosaurus into Lake Michigan and straight toward Detroit, north of where the U.S. military was deployed. Chiang decided to make Detroit the last great headline grabber before proceeding to New York City.

When Gary heard the news on Japanese television, he hoped his parents would contact him first so he would know right away if they were all right.

They didn't.

Part of him couldn't believe anything happened to them. And then there was the other part that made his heart race. The only way to find out was to call.

His fingers could hardly keep pace with his urgency as he jabbed the numbered keys on the phone. The phone rang three times. Then an automated message played.

"We're sorry. The number you dialed: two-two-two... three-five-four-nine is temporarily out of service."

It was the message his mother got when she tried to reach Aunt Laura in Courtland. It was a message that would have you conclude something minor happened, like a downed phone line. It echoed what the United States government wanted its people to believe, that stricken communities suffered minor property damage. Chiang was much more thorough than that. To date, no one after receiving such a message had heard back from a friend or a loved one.

Gary sat stunned. The phone slipped from his hand.

Godzilla awoke with a start when the phone hit the floor. Sensing tension in the air, Godzilla checked on the young man.

Like most dinosaurs, Godzilla came from a gregarious species. He recognized grief from the loss of a family member. And being gregarious, Godzilla now realized how much he, Lilla, and Gary had formed their own subgroup, because he felt responsible to do something. What, he hadn't a clue. Human feelings were too complex. It took someone of Lilla's wisdom to know what to do.

Not one to back down, Godzilla tried to be as much of a comfort as he could. Lilla stroked him with her hand when Gary was aggravated, so Godzilla then tried running his claws through the boy's hair, gingerly.

Of all the persons who would be there for him, Gary never thought it would be a prehistoric animal, the king of the monsters. A tear rolled down his cheek. Gary grabbed Godzilla's muscled wrist and held on.

That night, he lay in bed worried sick.

"Don't give up hope," Lilla said. She sat on the edge of his futon. The moonlight shining through the window silhouetted her diminutive frame. "Your parents may have escaped."

Gary drew in a long sigh. "That's what I told my mother when she said she lost touch with her sister-in-law in Courtland." Gary shook his head. "My mother told me later she had heard the cars were jammed up for five miles, trying to get out of Courtland. The dinosaur walked right up and shot up the whole works. How much do you want to bet my aunt was in that line of cars?"

"I am going to sing a song for you," Lilla said, "a song my sister and I sang to Mothra when she was a baby, restless and frightened. Close your eyes and listen."

Lilla hummed, gently. Her melody blossomed into song. The words were alien yet they melted away his fears. Soon he felt as though he had transcended out of his own mind and body to a place and time that only a new born could recall, a time when there was no knowledge of pain or terror, a place of perfect peace.

Before Gary realized it he had drifted off to sleep.

As Mothra's Fairy resumed humming her song, she curled up in the crook of his neck and shoulder, adding her warmth to his.

* * *

Shindo and Yomo weren't busy every day, every hour of the day, although when they did get a break they talked shop. Yomo was married to a lovely and talented scientist who worked in the R & D for Mushita Electronics. Ironically she was busier than he was.

So on his afternoon off, Yomo was at the grocery store. Shindo tagged along to discuss their case.

"Last night my wife and I were talking about the sightings of the shrunken Godzilla," Yomo said, "and she mentioned something I wasn't aware of. Did you know there's a hypothesis out there that describes how you can shrink an atom by compressing the orbits of the electrons around the nucleus?"

"Go on," Shindo prodded his partner.

"Someone wrote a paper on the subject. I forgot who. Anyway, a copy of it ended up at my wife's lab. No one took it seriously. The challenge in messing with an atom is that you risk losing an electron or proton and that changes the molecular structure of the material you're trying to shrink. Neither is there any commercial interest in such a process, which means no funding. However-"

Shindo finished Yomo's thought: "What if someone had figured out how to compress the atom and shrank Godzilla? And what if Chiang was the one who did it? Wait! His specialty is bioengineering."

"I asked my wife the same thing. She said molecular compression might fall within his field if we're talking bio-molecular compression."

When they arrived at the meat aisle Yomo found that all the beef, tuna, and salmon had been cleaned out.

"Look at this," Yomo complained. "Most of the meat is gone."

"That's because today is Tuesday," said a store employee. "Every Tuesday an American kid comes in and buys us out. He was just here an hour ago. Come in tomorrow morning. We'll be fully stocked."

Shindo had an idea. He asked the store employee, "Can you describe this boy?"

"Sure. He's about this tall," the man held his hand up a few inches short of six feet. "Light brown hair. Lean. Early twenties. Nice guy."

"You ever talk to him?"

"Sometimes."

Shindo turned to Yomo. "We found a lead."

Their lead led them to a landlord named Mr. Muhagi. They met up with the stout man in his storage shed in back of his office.

"I rent my mountain cottage to foreign students," explained Mr. Muhagi. "They've all returned home for the summer, except one. His name is Gary Cullmin. I don't have any big complaints. He pays his rent on time.

"Although I'm not happy about the condition of the flooring as of late. The boy knows he's supposed to take his shoes off in the dwelling. He's been good about it until recently. Seems like every week I have to replace the tatami mats in the living room. Just look at them!"

Yomo was studying the worn mats while Shindo leant the landlord a sympathetic ear.

"The only good thing I can say is that the kid pays for the damage," the landlord continued. "But even so…"

"Well," Yomo said, "if your tenant is wearing shoes in the house, the soles must have steel cleats to make scratches like these, not to mention he must have gained a couple of hundred kilos in weight. Shindo, look at these compression marks."

Yomo angled the mat in the light and traced with his index finger what looked like a heel mark from a hefty-sized foot.

Shindo ran his fingertips across the scratches and mouthed out "claw marks" to Yomo.

Yomo agreed with a nod.

Shindo stood back up. "How long have you been having problems with the mats?"

"I'd say about three weeks."

Shindo gave Yomo a knowing look. It was three weeks ago when the two-meter tall Godzilla was seen wandering around Takasaki. Shindo shook the landlord's hand and bowed. "Thank you, Muhagi-san."

"Since you're from the government, is there something I should be doing about Mr. Cullmin?" Muhagi appeared concerned.

"So long as he pays his rent," Shindo said, "don't do anything."

On their way to the car, Shindo recommended they talk to Yamashita first.

"Why?" Yomo asked. "We can shave three hours travel time if we head up to the cottage now."

"I don't like messing around with a foreign national without the Chief's permission."

"The kid is staying on our soil."

"Don't worry. The Chief won't say no. And once we have his permission, if anything goes wrong, the responsibility will be on his head."

"You're right. Good point!"

* * *

Satin, Celeste, and Faora were dining at a five-star restaurant, dressed eloquently. The maitre d' stepped up and handed Satin an envelope. She opened it and read.

Faora put her glass down. "What does it say?"

"The Japanese secret service found Godzilla," Satin said with a hint of a smile, eager to get back into action. "And Chiang wants us to get him first."


	5. Chapter 5

Attack of the Super Allosaurus

Chapter 5

Gary didn't feel right giving Lilla the boot. She needed shelter. Why else did she come to the cottage? But it was either care for her or his parents. Family came first. 

When he called to make a flight reservation, circumstances upended his priorities. All flights to Detroit were cancelled. Areas affected by the Super Allosaurus had been declared a military zone. No one was getting in, by plane, car, or foot, until further notice.

Gary was stuck in Japan.

Perhaps it was for the best. If his parents were all right, the first place they'd call would be here at the cottage. If he returned to the States, he and they could end up wandering all over Michigan trying to find each other. 

He would have to wait.

In the meantime, something else was needling the back of his mind. Over the past week Godzilla seemed to be getting bigger. Gary could've sworn when he first brought the burly archosaur into the cottage, there was a foot of space between the top of Godzilla's head and the ceiling. Now there was barely an inch.

Gary didn't worry about it. He had enough on his mind.

Since he couldn't go home, he tried bringing home to the cottage, and served something different for dinner. 

"Here, try your first Big Mac," Gary said.

Godzilla pulled away from the burger, bearing his teeth in distaste. 

Gary shrugged and took a bite of the Big Mac. His idea didn't work out too well. Lilla sparingly nibbled a French fry. She had some orange drink poured into a thimble.

"So what do you think of your first taste of Americana?" Gary asked.

"Well... uh." Lilla tried to think of something tactful. "It's very interesting!"

Gary then noticed Godzilla was staring out the patio door. "What are you looking at, Big Guy?" He got up, switched off the light and peered out into the darkness.

Gary saw nothing at first. Then two figures popped out of the underbrush from the woods and headed up the side of the backyard. They were geared in black combat fatigues and night vision goggles.

"Someone's coming up to the house! They have guns! Hide!"

Outside, Satin hand-signaled Faora to scale the roof. She then had Eva position herself on the left side of the patio door while she positioned herself on the right. Stanzi knelt down between them, weapon shouldered at the ready, scanning the interior with her night vision gear. She held her fist up, indicating all clear, and the three of them entered the cottage, being greeted by the salty smell of the McDonald's food on the dinner table. 

Faora radioed them from the roof. "The grounds are clear. Wait! Two men are coming up the path toward the cottage."

"Right," Satin acknowledged. "Celeste, key in on Faora's directions. Faora, guide Celeste around behind the two intruders. Take them down. Fast."

Shindo and Yomo were the ones ascending the path. It was a moonless night, yet the stars put out a dazzling tapestry. As they entered through the gate, Shindo heard movement behind them. 

"Down!" 

Gunfire erupted. Bullets zinged overhead. If they had been a millisecond slower in dropping to the ground their backs would've been perforated by Celeste's burst of fire. 

Belly down in the grass, Shindo and Yomo drew their service pistols. A second fusillade flashed from the rooftop. The dirt spewed out of the ground in small geysers. The rounds struck so close, Shindo and Yomo felt the bullets piercing the soil. Lying flat was the only thing saving them, and they couldn't rely on being a small target for long. 

They rolled in opposite directions, being chased all the way by fierce gunfire from the front and back. 

Satin called over her headset. "Faora, report!"

"Two Japanese agents in the front yard."

"Japanese agents," Satin repeated. "Prop the table in front of the living room window."

The McDonald's burgers and fries spilled to the floor as Eva and Stanzi grabbed either end of the table and rushed it into the living room to fortify a position at the large window.

Outside, no sooner than the shooting had started it stopped.

"They're reloading," Shindo called to Yomo. In one well-practiced move, Shindo fired forward and Yomo spun around and fired to the rear. Faora's body coiled and rolled from the roof. Yomo's round knocked Celeste off her feet. She had been standing in the open gate with her gun shouldered. The bullet thwacked instead of making a dull meaty thud—a clear indication she was wearing a flack vest. 

Both men rushed back through the gate. Shindo kicked the Heckler and Koch from her grip, and before Celeste could draw her backup weapon Yomo flattened her with a blow across the temple with the butt of his gun. 

By then Satin, Eva, and Stanzi had busted out the living room window and started tearing up the yard. Shindo and Yomo ducked behind the stonewall to keep from getting cut to pieces. The night became hot with flying lead. 

Gary peered around the corner from the hall. "The patio is open," he said to Lilla. "Let's make a break out the back. I'll go first."

"Wait," Lilla whispered. "I can get out the patio door without being noticed. You should use a window."

"We don't know how many there are. Let's stick together."

Lilla agreed with a nod, but pointed to herself, indicating she would go first. With no trouble she padded across the floor and out the patio door. 

Gary braced himself. It was now or never. He burst across the empty dining area. 

Satin spotted him out of her peripheral vision. She spun and fired. Gary's body shuddered from the rounds boring through him, shattering the glass in the patio door. For an instance he saw his blood spray out before him before he fell on his back. 

Shocked, Satin caught her breath. If she had known it was just a kid…

Lilla stood outside the door, horrified. 

Then their eyes locked.

Satin snapped her fingers for Eva's attention and pointed at the Fairy. "Get her."

Eva rushed low across the living room. As she entered the dining area a blue beam of flame intercepted her. The shear force of the blast slammed Eva against the kitchen cupboards. Like a flower tossed into the flames, her body rapidly blackened to ash. Her shriek ended in a dry gasp for air. 

Godzilla stepped from the hall and took up a stance, blocking the two remaining mercenaries from making any further attempts on either Gary or Lilla. 

Stanzi gaped in awe. 

Satin elbowed her. "Tranquilizer grenades. Quick!"

They reached into their satchels as smoke fogged the room. Godzilla's atomic ray had set the kitchen ablaze.

Godzilla flared his dorsal fins, brewing up a second blast when Lilla telepathically ordered him to pick up Gary. 

Out in the yard, Shindo stood up from behind the stone fence. "Godzilla's in there. I can see him. Yomo, cover me. I'm going in."

"The cottage is on fire. What are you going to do?"

"Surrender."

"What?"

"It's the quickest way to find Chiang's base. Stay out of sight, and get on the horn to Yamashita as soon as you can."

"All right."

Yomo aimed for the living room window as Shindo hopped the wall and headed for the cottage. When Shindo reached the living room window he saw Satin and Stanzi aiming their tranq grenades at Godzilla's back. Shindo would've let them shoot, but he saw that the big, gray beast was carrying a person. 

To give Godzilla a chance to get clear, he popped shots at the windowsill. The two mercenary women ducked. Once Godzilla was out of their line of sight, Shindo held his fire.

Furious of losing their quarry, Satin and Stanzi pulled up and spun around to shoot. Just as quick, Shindo leveled his service pistol. They were at a standoff, aiming their guns at each other through the broken living room window. Both sides measured each other on who would get out of this alive if the triggers were squeezed. 

Then Shindo smiled, and let his gun drop. He raised his hands.

Satin raised her sights. "We just might be able to salvage this botched job. Stanzi, meet Japan's top spy. Shindo Yamaguchi."

* * *

Godzilla and Mothra's Fairy trekked through the woods in the foothills to a clearing on one of the slopes. Here Godzilla laid Gary down. When Godzilla straightened up, his equilibrium took a spin. His legs buckled as if he had taken on weight. This kept happening ever since they left the cottage. 

Lilla brushed Gary's hair back from his clammy forehead. The boy was pungent with the smell of blood. 

Godzilla grunted at her, suggesting they should leave the boy. He would be dead soon. Dead bodies attracted disease.

Mothra's Fairy scowled at him for being callous.

Godzilla sniffed at her. He didn't mean to be insensitive. Just practical.

Another dizzy spell twirled through his head. When Godzilla's senses cleared he noticed Gary and Lilla looked smaller. They seemed to be shrinking—or rather, he was getting bigger. 

Which meant he didn't have to go with Lilla to Chiang's base. The problem was correcting itself!

Lilla looked at him in distress.

Godzilla snorted at her for being foolish. He sensed her thoughts. He wasn't going to abandon her all together. So long as one member of their little group lived, meaning her, he would help. Except, he will help Mothra defeat Chiang's rapacious predator, the giant allosaurus. 

He then roared at Mothra's Fairy to be strong. Rescue her sister. Kill Chiang. Leave the Super Allosaurus to him. Monsters were his specialty. Humans were hers.

With that, he turned on his heel and headed for the far side of the hill where he wouldn't crush her as he regained his size.

Lilla brightened up. "Congratulations, Godzilla," she said. "You have learned what it is to be a friend." 

* * *

On Infant Island, no one prayed, sang, or danced. After the hole had sealed in Mothra's enormous cocoon, nothing more happened. It seemed Mothra had perished. Only the Chief returned each day to the cave-like chamber of the Court of Happiness. He stood alone, before the cliff that served as the cocoon's perch. With his shoulders slumped, he stared wearily at the floor. His faith had been stretched to the point he did not know what hope was anymore.

Today his perseverance was rewarded. Light flickered in the Court. Looking up at the cocoon, the Chief squinted, shielding his eyes. His expression turned to joy.

A yellow glow radiated within the silken shell as Mothra pushed her head through the sticky fibers. The cocoon slipped from her back like a shroud. From her perch, she spread her wings. With their mosaic pattern of colors, Mothra's wings presented an angelic presence in the Court. She preened herself with her forelegs, cleaning the silk from her lustrous blue, insect eyes. Overwhelmed, the Chief dropped to his knees. He held his hand out to her. Alive and whole, Mothra finished her grooming and energetically greeted the Chief with a high-pitched chirp.

* * *

In the morning, the police, firefighters, and several of Yamashita's men were picking through the blackened ruins of the cottage. They packed Celeste in the back of a police car in cuffs and loaded Faora aboard a helicopter to be rushed to a hospital. Shindo's bullet had passed through an opening in her vest and punctured her torso.

"Radiation in what's left of the dwelling is a bit higher than normal, but nothing serious," one of Yamashita's men said, indicating the readings on the Geiger counter.

Yamashita acknowledged him with a sharp wave of his hand and continued haranguing Yomo. "How could you let Shindo take off alone? He was not trying to cover your escape. He's going to try to crack Chiang's organization on his own!"

"The plan was to find Chiang's base," Yomo clarified. "I don't think he intends to take out a base of operations solo."

"Why not? He's tried before."

Yomo opened his mouth and then stopped to think for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, that's true."

* * *

"We tried to get Godzilla," Satin explained to Chiang, "but the Japanese secret service had us pinned down."

Chiang leaned back in his chair at his desk. "How many were there?"

"Er, two." She bit the corner of her lip. Satin then added, "that we could see."

"Uh-huh." Chiang sounded skeptical.

"Look!" Satin became testy. "We had Godzilla breathing down the back our necks and bullets flying at us from the front. Your toy soldiers couldn't hang on to Godzilla. At least my team brought back one of Japan's top agents. Their best. Shindo Yamaguchi. You can question him to find out what the Japanese know about your operation. Hold him for ransom. Work out your aggression on him, whatever you want."

"In your field, Shindo may hold a notable presence. But I deal with nations," Chiang intoned loftily. "To a government, Shindo is like you. He's just hired help."

"Most governments value their citizens," Satin countered.

Chiang chuckled. "You have much to learn about government. But, who knows? Maybe I can make some use out of him. I'll accept your prisoner. Understand your fee is going to be reduced. I wanted Godzilla."

"Fair enough."

"Wait downstairs with the prisoner while I arrange payment."

Satin acknowledged Chiang with a nod and left his office.

Colonel Lao stepped forward. 

"What do you think?" Chiang asked Lao.

"She knows she screwed up. She probably suspects there will be a reprisal. I would even say she's weighing her options. Shindo has an impressive record. I've seen it. Who better to negotiate with when you're worried your boss is going to punish you?"

"I see your logic," Chiang said. "And if that's what she's thinking, she's right. My grievance with her is not because she failed to deliver on her contract. It's because she got her team shot up. She's no use to me anymore. See to it, Colonel."

Lao saluted and marched out of Chiang's office.

Down on a lower level, Shindo waited. Stanzi had her eye on him and her finger on the trigger of her weapon. The place he was in was a junction in the tunnels. Shindo noted a guardhouse down the way of one of the tunnels. It had a window beside the door. Inside, he saw two individuals in tan uniforms. One of them spoke on a phone. Shindo wondered if the phone could be used to call someone outside the base, or if it was just an inside line.

Satin joined them. 

Shindo perked up. "How did things go with Chiang?"

"Is it any of your business?" Satin asked.

"Not at all," Shindo conceded. "I have a hunch we won't be on company time for long. Fancy a nightcap?"

"What?" Satin frowned at him. "That's a bit obnoxious, asking such a thing here?"

Shindo shrugged. "Why not here? Why not anywhere? If you ask me, here is the perfect place. Because here I have your undivided attention."

Stanzi laughed.

Satin blushed. Partly out of anger, partly because of Shindo's audacity. Blushing was a rare thing for her. It made her fidgety.

"You've got nerve," she said.

"Lot's of it," Shindo agreed. "Listen," he tucked one hand into his pocket and gestured with the other. "The way I see it, for people like us, so long as we get our jobs done, it doesn't matter what we do with our time. So what do you say? Don't think too long because I might change my mind about you and ask your friend here." With that last bit, Shindo was teasing. 

Stanzi raised her brow at Satin. 

Satin looked at her, and then to Shindo. She appeared to understand what Shindo was driving at, but she wasn't buying it. Then she saw something that made her smile. "It looks like your time is up." She nodded toward the guardhouse.

Colonel Lao came out of the guardhouse with the tan-uniformed guards. He said something close to their ears, and then headed for a lift. The guards approached. They were armed, one of them with an RPD light machine gun.

Shindo noticed the guards didn't just focus on him, but all three of them. Satin and Stanzi's hackles went up, too. There was no sense carrying a light machine gun, unless you plan on shooting someone wearing a flak vest. The two mercenary women opened fire.

Chiang's soldiers did the same, firing from the hip.

Shindo dropped to the floor in the midst of the crossfire. It was over before the last of the spent bullet casings could clink on the cement floor. Chiang's men were dead. Stanzi lay on top of Satin. She managed to get in front of Satin, soaking up all the damage. Satin rolled her off, checked the younger woman's pulse. Her jaw clenched. Her complexion flushed with rage. Stanzi was dead.

Shindo knelt by her. "Listen. You want revenge? Tell me where there's a radio."

* * *

Gary teetered on the edge of consciousness. He wanted the pain to go away, far away. It felt as though an iron rod had been gouged into every bullet hole. He could feel his life drain away, soaking the soil underneath him. He could feel it. The surroundings, he was aware of, vaguely—the cool smell of morning dew, the hard ground under his back. His eyes were shut. All seemed black. He felt terribly alone. 

Was this it? Gary wondered. Will death be like what everyone says? Will he see a light at the end of tunnel? Will dead relatives come to meet him?

Then he got what he wanted. The pain stopped. But the end of the pain came with the sensation of a tether being snapped. He plunged into the blackness. That was how it felt: a constant falling. There was nothing to see or hear. All Gary had left was the falling, and he hoped it wouldn't stop. Because once that sensation stopped, where would he end up? What would be left of him? A collection of nebulous thoughts? The five senses do so much to define the boundaries of our existence.

But before he could hit bottom, a hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up.

Now, before him was the slope and the view it offered of the woodland below. The sun lit the trees and grass in morning colors while the clouds lazily crept across the sky. But Gary felt little of the temperature. Neither could he smell or hear much around him. It was as if the senses had been muted, as if there were several layers of cotton cushioning him from the world around him. The only other tangible feelings he had was the terra firma beneath his feet, and the hand grasping his forearm.

Gary turned, and saw that it was Lilla. Except, she stood as tall as an ordinary woman. She smiled at him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw something on the ground. Lilla cupped her other hand under his chin to stop him from looking down. She pulled him away, across the slope of the hill. Yet Gary got enough of a glimpse to see that it was his body. 

She was trying to keep him from realizing he was dead. It didn't do any good, because he knew. 

His time was up. The grains of sand had drained to the bottom of the hourglass. Gary had to go. Every bit of his existence insisted. He had no more choice in the matter than he did when it was his time to be born.

Nevertheless, Lilla didn't let go. She acted though he shouldn't be in a hurry to leave. Motioning to the ground, she invited him to sit with her. 

He couldn't say no to that. 

They sat on the grassy hillside, close together, their hips touching. Gary didn't expect her to sit so close. There was no room for his left arm other than to wrap it around her shoulders. 

Before, he suppressed his attraction to her. She was twelve inches tall, and, as far as he knew, she wasn't exactly human. 

The situation had changed. It was like a dream come true. But it was no dream. It was real. Someone knew what he wanted and Lilla was the only one who could find what that was. Gary felt naked, realizing the female telepath was so aware of his innermost thoughts. 

He put his arm around her. His hand gripped her bare arm. His palm felt the silky skin over soft flesh and firm bone. 

Lilla leaned against him and nuzzled her cheek into the crook of his neck. He could smell the scent of her long, black hair. As pleasurable as it was to have someone so beautiful press up against him, what stirred him even more was that she made the first move. Even if there never was a size difference, Gary thought there were lines Lilla would not allow him cross. 

He turned, looked at her. She looked at him. He searched her brown eyes to see if she loved him.

What he found was concern. Compassion. Love…he wasn't sure. 

He couldn't speak. Neither was he privy to her thoughts, even in this disembodied state. She was still a part of the living. He wasn't. 

Even so, if she was going to permit him to hold her, to know what it was like to be this close to her, he wanted to know the taste of her lips.

He leaned forward, and kissed her.

* * *

Yamashita stood behind Shindo's desk. His hand rested on the chair. It was quiet. For once he did not have to yell. Reprimand. Suffer innuendos. 

Despite his flippancy, Shindo always came through. Yamashita remembered once saying to Shindo after one of his commendations: "Shindo, when they finally tie you to a desk I hope you get a dozen men just like you under your command." And Shindo said: "I hope so too, sir. Then maybe we will get something done." 

One thing Yamashita would never admit, he saw a familiar face in Shindo.

Yomo burst into the room. "There you are, boss!"

"What is it?"

"We received a message from Shindo! He's inside Chiang's base. The base is right where we thought it was, Mount Kumotori. He told us where to find the access points."

"Finally!" Yamashita clapped his beefy palms together, and then pointed his finger at Yomo. "Now don't say it!"

"Say what?"

"I told you so."

"Me, boss? Never!"

* * *

The dew on the grass was nearly gone when Mothra soared over the foothills. Like the roving bank of clouds, she blotted out the sun with her passing and stirred the wind. She alighted upon the crest overlooking her fairy and the inert form of Gary's body and chirped salutations. Godzilla, who now stood full size, roared. 

Lilla bowed to Mothra. She looked exhausted. Mothra bobbed her head in understanding. Her Fairy had worked hard all hours of the night dissuading the boy's spirit from departing his body. 

She chirped her instructions. Lilla bowed again and stood aside. 

Mothra bathed Gary's body with sparkling yellow rays from her antennas. Blood faded away. The wounds sealed. Color came back to his skin and movement to his body. Gary's eyes blinked open. Mothra withdrew her rays.

Gary sat up, looking about confused. He checked his chest. No bullet wounds. There wasn't even any blood. Only the holes in his shirt remained.

Lilla stood off to the side smiling, a foot tall as before. What they were doing…he searched her gaze to see if it all had been real. Lilla, as always, hid her feelings well. He didn't want to forget what it was like holding her. Nevertheless, those moments were slipping away like images from a dream. 

Looking at the physical realty of the difference in their size, perhaps it was just a dream, a subconscious wish fulfillment spurred by a near-death experience.

How unfortunate.

Overshadowing Garry was a huge furry face with massive blue insect eyes. He spoke unsteadily. "You must be Mothra."

Mothra nodded and bleated a single note.

"We thank you for your help, Gary Cullmin," Lilla said. "Now we must go."

"Wait a minute!" Gary got back on his feet. "You guys can't just leave me behind. Let me help."

"No," Mothra's Fairy said. "What we must do is too dangerous."

"Listen," Gary said. "My home has been destroyed. I have no idea where my family is. My country is under attack. This is more my fight than yours. Really, the shoe is on the other foot. I should be deciding if I should let you guys tag along with me…if I knew where I had to go," Gary concluded sheepishly.

Lilla looked up to Mothra. Mothra tilted her head to the side weighing the young man's argument. She then chirped loudly. Lilla turned back to Gary. "Mothra accepts. Although I must say I agree with her. You are being foolish."

The deal settled, Godzilla roared, eager to be off. He bent over so Mothra could grab hold of his back. Off she went carrying Godzilla toward the States while Gary and Mothra's Fairy headed further up into the foothills toward Mount Kumotori.

* * *

"Representatives voiced their support for the United States on the floor of the United Nations," Anchorwoman Mahiko stated on TV, "and pledged, regardless if the dinosaur reaches the United Nations building in New York City, to pool their intelligence resources to hunt down Chiang. As the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said in Parliament this afternoon, 'San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, destroying these cities serve no useful purpose. The majority of Chiang's victims are working-class Americans. Working class people. The kind of people Chiang claims to represent. I shall not stand for it. Neither will any man or woman who carries the mantle of civilization shall stand for it!'"

The news showed footage of protestors from countries across Europe, Asia, South America, everywhere, praying, holding candle light vigils and waving signs, burning effigies. 

Chiang tapped his globe, while the coverage continued to denounce him. Suddenly, he flung the globe at the row of television screens. It was a hefty globe, with a solid wrought iron stand. So hopped on adrenaline, Chiang hurled it as though it were light as a baseball. The picture tube from one of the screens shattered on impact. The whole wall circuit shorted out.

"What do we do now?" Ling asked in a faltering voice.

"The only thing we can do. Finish the job. Take the money. And run."

This time Ling didn't put a stopper on her own anger. "That's it? This is just going to be a job? So long as we make a better world all those deaths could have meaning. Now it's murder."

The wheels churned in Chiang's mind. For a moment the fog of his rhetoric cleared and he recognized what he had been doing for what it was. He turned pale.

But he was not one who accepted guilt. Chiang collected himself and ordered her to shut up.

"You're a murderer! And because I was loyal to you I'm a murderer, too!"

"Don't get self righteous with me! What would you be doing right now if you were still in that dirty village I found you in, huh? What would you still be doing? Say it!"

Ling shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Say it!" Chiang taunted. When she pursed her lips, he continued. "I cleaned you up. Gave you something to be a part of."

"You made me a murderer!"

Chiang slapped her.

Ling slapped him back.

Chiang was shocked. Shock turned to rage. Chiang grabbed her by her silk robe, balled his fist, and struck at her face. But he couldn't get a clean blow. Ling flailed about, getting her arms in the way. He pulled her down and pounded on her back. The muscles in his hand were clenched so tight his fist was rock hard. Ling crumpled to the floor, screaming. But Chiang's ferocity just grew worse, and worse, until the intercom on his desk rang.

It was Colonel Lao.

"Chiang, the Super Allosaurus has entered New York City."

It took a moment for Chiang to gather his senses. He left Ling on the floor and got on the com. "I'll be right up."

Chiang left.

Ling cried. Yet, in the midst of her sobs she laughed. Because she was free. That last emotional bond she had with him was broken.

* * *

Gary and Lilla stood at the foot of mighty Mount Kumotori. Lilla pointed to an area near the summit, where they needed to reach to gain access to Chiang's base. He couldn't imagine climbing all that way. It'd take all day. 

Lilla instructed him to carry her and begin climbing with his eyes closed. After feeling his way up what felt like a few meters, she asked him to open them. When he did he saw they were halfway up the mountain. How, he couldn't fathom.

She had him repeat the process when he started scaling the rocky outcrops. When she gave him the OK to open his eyes again, the last of the distance was covered. 

Gary looked down, shuddered. The point from which they had started was way, way down. He set Lilla down on a ledge and griped the escarpment with both hands. A gusty wind buffeted them. 

"Teleportation," Gary noted. "Can you teleport us into the base?"

Mothra's Fairy shook her head. "My ability is limited."

"It's adept enough to impress me. Let's find an entrance."

"No need," Lilla said. "My sister has already arranged for help. Chiang's cruelty provided us with a willing collaborator." She concentrated, as if she were contacting someone telepathically. 

Then a metallic lock scraped dully within its mounting and a hatch opened within a nook in the mountain's escarpment. Dirt fell away, revealing an opening. 

A petite Chinese girl poked her head out. She appeared to be about Gary's age. "Gary Cullmin?" she asked in a thick accent.

Gary nodded.

She pointed to herself. "Ling Tsue Chen."


	6. Chapter 6

** Attack of the Super Allosaurus**

Chapter 6

Chiang hurried into the control room and scaled the steps to his station where Lao held temporary command. The Colonel vacated Chiang's seat.

"We've just reached the banks of the Hudson River," Lao said.

"Good." Chiang took his seat, checked his readings, and then looked up on the screen to see what the Super Allosaurus was looking at.

After three weeks, the goal was within one hour's time. The mood in the control room was electric.

While in New York City it was a panic. National Guardsmen waved cars to a halt in the Lincoln Tunnel while trying to get the traffic on the Jersey side of the Hudson to clear out of the way even if it meant getting the drivers to hop the curb and driving down the sidewalk. The Super Allosaurus loomed over the mouth of the tunnel, swinging its shadow over the people as Chiang, back at his base, manipulated the creature via telepathic control to ascertain its surroundings.

A target-rich environment, the Super Allosaurus received its orders to hold still as Chiang's gunners rained down the plasma beams from the shoulder pods. People scrambled from their cars. For most, such a move did them no good. The street became an inferno. Chiang then blasted the tunnel complex with the mouth beam, bringing down the tunnel exit in a heap of rubble.

The Super Allosaurus then slipped into the Hudson River, coming ashore on the Manhattan docks. National Guard tanks pelted the dinosaur in an exercise of futility. Forty Second Avenue stretched out before the Super Allosaurus, choked with evacuees. Plasma beams laced up and down the traffic, turning the road into a river of fire. Smoke billowed between the buildings.

Helicopters lifted people from the rooftops. Stragglers clung on to the landing skids with one here or there loosing his or her grip, plummeting to the streets below.

Cruelty knew no bounds. When Chiang saw the evacuees struggling to escape down the entire distance of Forty-Third he instructed his shoulder pod gunners to skim the sides of the buildings. Why? Because the United Nations was in plain sight at the end of the street. "Let the UN Assembly hear screams," he said. The plasma beams shattered the windows, raining glass shards on the people below.

Anguished cries wailed as the Super Allosaurus lumbered down Forty Third Street. The UN representatives, with their staff, scrambled for their vehicles. Brave cameramen were present to catch on film this pandemonium, this breakdown of civil governance.

Dr. Arnold Johnson was one of the few who remained in the UN building. He stood at one of the upper floor windows, boldly watching. He stayed in part because he was a paleontologist. He wanted to see this living fossil in the flesh. He stayed because this was his city. But mostly he stayed because he was not going to allow Chiang, a madman in hiding, make him run away in his own country.

The Super Allosaurus came face to face with Dr. Johnson. The dinosaur's roar thundered through the skyscraper's foundation. The creature opened wide to fire its mouth beam. Dr. Johnson braced for his final moment.

But the moment never came. Dr. Johnson opened his eyes only to see the dinosaur's legs kicking as the creature was lifted from view.

Mothra had grabbed the Super Allosaurus and hoisted him into the air.

She carried Chiang's wildly kicking monster several blocks then dropped him upon an evacuated building. The structure collapsed under his weight. Billowing cinder fogged the street like a ground-level cloud. When the smoke thinned, Super Allosaurus searched for the force which had airlifted it across the city. What the massive allosaurus found instead was Godzilla looking down at him.

Godzilla roared as his fins lit up in its characteristic blue glow. The Super Allosaurus rolled from Godzilla's radioactive heat ray and scrambled to its feet, counter firing with its plasma mouth beam. Godzilla fired again. They blazed back and forth, their energy beams countering each other until Super Allosaurus ran out of breath. His fiery orange plasma beam fizzled out. Godzilla exhaled his radioactive fire a good measure more, blasting Super Allosaurus dead in the face before stopping to catch his breath. The Super Allosaurus stood blinking wide-eyed, his facial scales blackened.

"I suspected the acid wouldn't be potent enough to kill Mothra in her cocoon," Chiang commented, watching the screen. "If only our backers would have permitted me the time to produce a more toxic mix, turn Mothra into a bubbling soup."

"It was a wise precaution to keep the Twin Fairies at Muka's club in Tokyo," Lao said. "If Mothra had recovered sooner she would have flown straight for us. When we're done with the United Nations I'll dispose of the one Fairy we have."

"No," Chiang countered. "I don't want an avenging Mothra pursuing us to the ends of the Earth. It's bad enough she has Godzilla as her ally. He should have been mine to control!"

* * *

Mothra bleated at Godzilla. The fight should be moved out of the city.

Godzilla didn't listen, so Mothra grabbed the Super Allosaurus by the tail and dragged it down Park Avenue. The theropod twisted side to side, crashing into buildings, trying to get free. Gaining altitude, Mothra soared high over Manhattan. She released the dinosaur over the bay. Super Allosaurus slam-dived head first into the water. The wake splashed both shores of Ellis Island and Manhattan.

The waves nearly settled when Super Allosaurus burst to the surface screaming savagely. Mothra dropped low over the surface and flapped her wings to stir up the bay. Waves that could capsize a destroyer bobbed Super Allosaurus like a tubby toy. The dinosaur submerged again.

Godzilla strode onto Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan.

Like a sudden geyser, the dinosaur shot out of the water, sinking its teeth in between Mothra's head and thorax. She bleated and tried to shake him off. Godzilla fired his radioactive beam across the bay, blasting the monster's flank. The Super Allosaurus released Mothra and splashed back into the water.

The massive allosaurus then resurfaced with a boulder in its jaws that it had dug out of the bottom of bay. With a twist of the neck, it flung the rock at Godzilla. Godzilla bounced the boulder off his snout, sending it hurdling back. Surprised, the dinosaur quickly caught it in its mouth and then flung it back with twice the momentum. Godzilla bunted it off his skull, doubling the velocity. Chiang's monster screeched and tried to evade. The boulder deflected off its back and crashed into the pedestal of Ellis Island. The Statue of Liberty wobbled and fell. Mothra swooped in snagging Lady Liberty before she shattered on the ground.

Back at the base, Chiang received more bad news.

"Enemy choppers closing in!"

Chiang responded quickly. "Deploy surface batteries."

For a moment MountKumotori was quiet. Only the sound of approaching choppers reverberated in the distance. Then a row of explosions rocked the eastern slope. Rolling out of the openings came twin barreled ZSU-23 anti-aircraft guns and launchers armed with SA-2 Guideline anti-aircraft missiles.

"We didn't anticipate this!" Yomo's pilot called over the comm.

"Close the distance as fast as you can," Yomo ordered.

The rockets blasted the Huey choppers out of the sky one by one. But Yomo had one ace up his sleeve: a platoon of maser tanks on standby at the foot of Mount Kumotori. They turned their massive weapons and opened fire before Chiang's men could reload their missile launchers. Built for monsters of the likes of Godzilla and Rodan, the masers easily torched Chiang's defenses.

The surviving Huey's dispensed their load of troops on Chiang's neutralized anti-aircraft platforms. Yomo ordered his chopper to swing around. "Let's find the entrance to that landing bay."

* * *

Back in New York, Godzilla waded into the bay as Super Allosaurus came ashore on Governor's Island, at the mouth of theEast River. Mothra swooped in to attack. Chiang's shoulder pod gunners slashed her with plasma beams at Mothra's wings, forcing her to veer away from the field of battle. The dinosaur screeched in supremacy.

Godzilla then came ashore on the opposite side of the island. Super Allosaurus lowered its head, barring its wicked teeth, drawing in a hiss that could turn a mortal's blood to ice. Godzilla poised himself and roared. That was one good thing about his atomic mutation. It gave him the size and bulk his ancestors didn't have to face one of these super predators head on. His racial grudge burned deep, burning back 140 million years.

Super Allosaurus had his own racial memory of Godzilla's species, and snorted derisively. How is this beast going to defeat me? The giant allosaurus thought, regarding Godzilla. He's food!

The two behemoths sized each other up. A sudden fury of plasma beams and blue fire ripped between the two ancient archosaurs. Caught in the middle, the trees burst into glowing embers, blowing in the maelstrom. Buildings burst into flames. Super Allosaurus then leapt the distance to Godzilla's side of the island, catching Godzilla's head in its maw. Godzilla staggered under the weight. The two of them splashed into the bay.

* * *

Shindo and Satin hid the bodies of Stanzi and the two guards. After contacting Tokyo, they left the technicians in the communications room, gagged and tied. They were nearly home free, out of the base, when Yomo and the army stormed the mountain, setting Chiang's staff on high alert.

Now they had to fight their way out. They fell back into the command center overlooking the underground landing bay where the Harke transport helicopter was parked out on the landing pad. Shindo secured the door while Satin went to one of the consoles.

"I can fly the helicopter," she said. "That won't be a problem. But we're going to have a fight every foot of the way down into the bay."

"Then we will take a more direct route." Shindow grabbed a swivel chair and slammed it through the bay window. "We'll climb down."

Then a suspicious sound of something heavy and metallic clamped to the door. An explosive charge! They took cover behind the consoles just as the door exploded. Live hand grenades came skidding across the floor, through the blown opening. The small bombs went off, splattering the room with shrapnel. Chiang's troops rushed through the smoke fogging the entrance and took positions behind the first line of control banks, firing their guns and throwing grenades.

"Where's that backup you radioed for?" Satin demanded hotly. She cringed when the next volley of grenades detonated dangerously close to their hiding place.

"Good question," Shindo said. "Can I pass and try question two?"

"Sure. Tell me the real reason you surrendered to me?"

Shindo didn't expect a question two. He was just trying to put off answering question one. Since she figured out he had an ulterior motive, he went ahead and showed her why he surrendered. He took hold of Satin and kissed her.

Before their lips parted, a massive explosion ripped through the roof of the bay. The bay door collapsed upon the transport helicopter with a thunderous clatter. A single Huey lowered through the smoking hole in the roof. Chiang's troops stopped shooting when a mini-gun aboard the chopper swiveled their way and let loose a murderous fusillade. The few troopers that survived retreated back into the hall.

Shindo and Satin cautiously peered out into the bay.

Behind the mini-gun was Yomo. "Shindo! There you are! I brought the backup." He jutted his thumb toward the squad of soldiers seated behind him.

"Good work!" Shindo called back. "Land that chopper and bring those men up here." He then turned to Satin. "Fancy going back after Chiang?"

In reply Satin reloaded her Heckler and Koch and pulled back the bolt.

* * *

Godzilla climbed ashore at Battery Park. His neck throbbed from the necklace of tooth marks left by Super Allosaurus. Blood oozed from the wounds.

No sooner he got back onto dry land the Super Allosaurus splashed out of the water and chomped his tail. The allosaur's razor-sharp incisors pierced deep into his flesh. Godzilla bellowed. He brewed up to exhale his radioactive beam only to have his adversary yank his tail so hard he was pulled off his feet. He crashed hard onto the ground.

Mothra swooped out the clouds, weaving between the plasma beams launching form the shoulder pods. She dropped onto the giant theropod's back. The allosaur tried to buck her off. Godzilla collared Super Allosaurus around the neck to hold him steady so Mothra could rip off the shoulder pods with her mandibles.

In Chiang's control room the images on the targeting screens for the shoulder pods turned to snow. Back in New York, Godzilla reached into the Super Allosaurus's mouth and ripped the last beam pod. Chiang's screen now snowed over.

Chiang slammed his fist on his console.

Alarms sounded. Gunfire chattered outside.

Then one of the techs yelled, "We're losing control of the dinosaur!"

"Did we have a circuit overload?" Chiang demanded.

"No! We're just not getting a signal through to the dinosaur."

Chiang checked the telepathic transmitter. Arana's headset lay on the bench, but Arana was no longer there. She was with her sister scampering toward the far end of the table.

His face red with fury, Chiang drew his pistol and fired at them. The Fairies ducked as they ran. For them the bullets were like artillery shells. One round shot out a table leg. The table collapsed. The Twin Fairies leapt from the edge for a conduit leading up toward an open duct. Arana, weak from being strapped down for so long wasn't quick enough to reach the conduit. She grabbed Lilla around the waist. The sudden tug of Arana's weight nearly caused Lilla to lose her grip.

The duct they needed to reach was eighteen inches up. But the floor was a five-foot drop down. To the Fairies such a drop would be like losing your grip from the fourth floor of a building and falling on hard pavement.

Gary's gut turned queasy when Ling had given him an AK-47. It didn't sink in that he might have to kill someone when he insisted in joining Lilla in rescuing her sister. He was in the open duct the Twin Fairies were trying to reach.

Now that the Twin Fairies were in danger, Gary lost his inhibitions. He let loose an awkward volley of rounds which ricocheted about the control room. He didn't hit Chiang, but he got the madman's attention.

Before Gary could fire a second burst Colonel Lao reached up and pulled him out of the duct and tossed him onto the floor.

"See who else is in the duct," Chiang said. Lao found Ling and pulled her out, too, pushing her and Gary to the center of the room.

* * *

Super Allosaurus shook his head in a daze after the telepathic contact with Arana had been broken. He never realized his actions had been remotely controlled. All he understood was that the pressure in his head was suddenly gone and he was in complete control of himself. He spun around, taking in New York City as if seeing it for the first time.

Godzilla and Mothra waited to see what Super Allosaurus would do. Godzilla didn't understand why the giant allosaur behaved as though he were waking from a dream. Mothra did understand. The Twin Fairies had telepathically explained how the humans controlled the dinosaur. She hoped Super Allosaurus would realize he no longer needed to fight now that he was free.

Super Allosaurus disappointed her.

Like a fresh round in a boxing match, the fight resumed. Super Allosaurus bounded down the road, crushing abandoned cars underfoot. Godzilla blasted the pavement to cut the animal's charge short. Super Allosaurus hopped back from the blast and then leapt, maw open, for Godzilla's head. In a move worthy of a jujitsu master, Godzilla caught the monster in mid air and used Super Allosaurus' momentum to slam him into the ground. The impact shattered the windows on both sides of the street.

* * *

Gary and Ling stood in the center of the room with a half a dozen guards aiming their AK's at them. Lao set Gary's AK-47 on one of the control banks. Man, Gary thought, I screwed up. I can't be afraid to hurt these cut throats if I'm going to help beat them.

Chiang stepped up to him. "So you were the one who was hiding Godzilla."

"How would you know?"

Chiang grinned, ignoring Gary's question, and stepped over to Ling. He shook his head. Ling kept her gaze steady, her hatred kindled.

"If you were going to betray me at least be smart enough not to get caught," the mad scientist chided her. Then he looked about the room. "Shobijin! I have two hostages. Two chances for you to cooperate. As you can hear from the gunfire I haven't much time, which means neither do you." Chiang waited a heartbeat for a reply. "That was your first chance." He aimed his gun at Gary's temple.

A piece of machinery dropped from the ceiling and struck Chiang's skull. He grabbed his head and cursed. Next, a power cable, crackling with electricity, swung down toward him. He sidestepped the swinging cable which hit a control panel, igniting it in a flurry of smoke and sparks.

Chiang spotted movement among the equipment mounted up in the rafters.

"Up there! The Shobijin! Get them!"

Lao and his men shouldered their weapons and scaled the walls.

Chiang turned toward Gary. "Now then..."

Before he spoke his next word, Gary belted him across the mouth, hopped over the rogue scientist as he pirouetted onto the floor, and grabbed his AK-47 from the console.

Chiang's techs rushed Gary to help their fallen leader.

"Back off!" Gary shouted.

The tech's dutifully backed off. They weren't heroes.

Gary swept his aim across the room. "No one else move! This time I won't miss, I promise you!"

Ling repeated his commands in Mandarin.

Colonel Lao, who was halfway up the service ladder, scowled at the college lad like a panther calculating the best opportunity to pounce.

"Be cool until my friends get here," Gary gnashed his teeth in a sneering grin. The glint in his eyes glared more sharply than the glint at the tip of his gun. "I'm an American. I know what you've done to my country. Don't give me another excuse to shoot you!"

Ling passed a smile to him, proud of his bravery, and translated his words.

"Gary," the Twin Fairies cried in unison, "look out!"

Chiang threw his side arm. Before Gary figured out what was going on, the pistol struck his forehead.

Lao dropped to the floor, grabbed Gary's AK with one hand and pummeled the boy with the other. Ling tried grappling the assault rifle from Lao. The Colonel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and threw her to the floor next to Gary and aimed the rifle at them. His men quickly assumed control.

Then an explosion blew open the main door.

Shindo stormed in with Yomo and Satin covering his flanks. Japanese commandoes followed behind them, pouring into the room.

Bullets spewed, cutting down armed men on both sides. Lao quickly tried to finish the job, taking aim at Gary and Ling. Shindo clocked him across the back of the head with the butt of Stanzi's MP5K. The colonel slumped over unconscious with a grunt.

The shooting stopped. The survivors of Chiang's team surrendered.

"Where's Chiang Mi Shek?" Satin demanded in Mandarin.

Ling pointed to a side door. "He escaped through there."

* * *

Dr. Arnold Johnson continued to watch the monster battle from the UN headquarters. He was certain Super Allosaurus could not prevail against two opponents without the plasma rays.

He headed back into the Assembly Chamber to ring up Chiang on the two-way television to see if the mad scientist was still full of bluster. It took a minute before the screen came to life.

"Dr. Johnson," Chiang said, looking disheveled. "I'm surprised you're still at the UN. I figured everyone had evacuated." He appeared to be within a small aircraft. Its engines rumbled over the speaker.

"You're beaten, Chiang," Dr. Johnson said. "Do yourself a favor. Surrender. There isn't a safe haven you can fly to."

"I don't plan on landing, Doctor," Chiang leered. "In an hour we shall all die."

Dr. Johnson leaned forward with both hands on the raised platform where the two-way TV was set. His brow furrowed in a grave expression. "What are you going to do?"

"On board my plane is a device," Chiang said. "In," he glanced at the device's timer, "fifty-eight minutes it will detonate and ignite the atmosphere of the entire planet."

"What?" Dr. Johnson was incredulous.

"The atmosphere is a rather thin skin of vapor across the planet. As a paleontologist, you should be well versed in the proposed causes of mass extinction: volcanoes injecting sulfates into the atmosphere, methane released from the ocean floor. All it takes is an added ingredient to the chemical soup we breathe and then we suffocate."

Dr. Johnson phoned the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC. The embassy relayed his call to Yamashita in Tokyo. Yamashita relayed the call to Yomo's strike team camped at the base of MountKumotori with a whole division of army troops. The army had the survivors of Chiang's personnel secured in a hastily-built, barbed-wire pen.

The Colonel himself and Ling were in Yomo's command tent. So were Shindo, Satin,Gary, and the Twin Fairies.

"Shindo." Yomo lowered the mike on his headset. "The boss is on the line with a paleontologist in the UN. The guy says Chiang has a bomb that can wipe out the atmosphere across the entire world. Is that possible?"

Shindo nudged Lao with the butt of Stanzi's machine pistol. "Well?"

Lao remained poker-faced, refusing to speak.

Ling shrugged. She didn't know, either.

"It is true," spoke the Twin Fairies. "We read Chiang's mind. He realizes he will be a condemned man. So, as far as he is concerned, if he cannot survive, no one will."

The mood turned tense within the command tent.

"Chief," Yomo radioed back to Yamashita, "the Fairies say it's true!"

Yamashita relayed the news to the UN. "Then we're beaten," Dr. Johnson said.

While Yamashita in Tokyo debated with his superiors if it was worth warning the public what was about to happen, the Twin Fairies stepped out of the tent at Mount Kumotori. They raised their arms and sang to Mothra, beckoning her to seek out Chiang.

In New York City, Dr. Johnson noticed a change in the monster battle. "Wait!" he cried into the phone. "Mothra is lifting off! She's heading west, toward Japan!"

"But will she reach Chiang in time, Dr. Johnson?" Yamashita asked.

"She should. Mothra is nearly as fast as Rodan."

In Japan, Shindo and his companions watched the sky, while Gary waited by the Fairies as they sang, adding their spiritual strength to Mothra's.

In the Assembly room at the UN, Dr. Johnson watched Chiang grinning on the screen of the two-way TV. The grin slowly faded as Chiang's gaze turned toward the airplane windows.

Mothra found him!

The mad scientist sprang from view. In the plane, Chaing was heading for his device to hit the detonator switch. His plane suddenly disappeared in a crunch of Mothra's bite. A single wing of Chiang's Leer jet spun in the wind as Mothra soared high above the clouds.

A red light burst across the sky. It was witnessed across the whole hemisphere, from the coast of California to China. Back at the camp at Mount Kumotori everyone recoiled from the awful sight. It was as if Armageddon had burst upon them. When they realized they were still alive, still breathing, the camp cheered.

"Mothra did it!" Gary cried.

Lowering their arms, the Twin Fairies sighed. It was all over.

Nearly...

* * *

Godzilla and the Super Allosaurus grappled, throwing each other into landmark building after landmark building, toppling them like dominoes along 6th Avenue. The air turned thick with choking cinder. Godzilla hip-tossed Super Allosaurus into the Rockefeller Center. In return, Super Allosaurus donkey-kicked him into the high rises across the street.

They faced each other, bloody yet tireless, roaring insults and taunts before going at it again. Super Allosaurus leapt. Godzilla spun around and batted his mortal enemy into the Rockefeller Plaza with his tail. The super saurus crashed atop the skating rink in the center of the plaza, squealing at being outmaneuvered again.

Godzilla muscled his way into the plaza. Super Allosaurus was wedged between the buildings unable to get up. It was time to finish this. Godzilla braced one of kicked legs, gripping the knee and ankle, and then dropped.

Cartilage popped with a resounding, bloodcurdling crack.

Super Allosaurus screamed and tossed. His knee joint hung by a flap of skin.

Then Godzilla grabbed the other leg.

The cartilage in the other knee popped.

Godzilla stepped back from the writhing thing. He summoned his energy, his fins blazing, and fired a searing beam of blue fire. Super Allosaurus—Godzilla's ancestral foe—burst into flames. The fire burned through its scales, torching muscle tissue, evaporating fat and fluids. In a pyre of its own flesh, Super Allosaurus rolled over and over...

"This dinosaur here, the Super Allosaurus, is unique at the Museum of Natural History because it is not a fossil." Dr. Arnold Johnson turned to his tourists. "It's actual bone. In fact it was salvaged a few miles from here. So instead of a hundred or so million years old, these remains date back three weeks." The laughter of the tourists echoed in the far corners of the new wing of the museum. To contain the bones, the chamber rivaled a stadium in size. Dr. Johnson smiled. "And through here we come to a display of some of the Jurassic's smaller theropods."

A lone woman remained after Dr. Johnson's tour proceeded to the next exhibit. She glared at the skeleton then looked at a photo of her family. A tear trickled down her taught cheek. She wiped away the tear, put the picture into her purse, stepped up to the skeleton of the Super Allosaurus and spat on it.

* * *

Gary slept soundly in the hotel room. The singing of the Twin Fairies played in his dreams. After another midnight sigh, he realized he was not dreaming.

"Lilla!"

Mothra's Fairy stood silhouetted on the nightstand.

Gary switched on the light and gave her some space on the bed. "I was told you left already."

Lilla dropped on the bed and settled down by his pillow. "We did not get a chance to say goodbye."

"Yeah, being shuffled around all those dignitaries. That was quite a celebration party, wasn't it? At least the Japanese government provided me this room. After tonight I am on my own again."

"Where will you go from here?" she asked.

"Back to the States," Gary said. "Try to find my folks."

Lilla smiled. "I'm glad you have not given up hope."

Gary laid his head down. "I really hadn't the time to thank you for saving my life."

"So you understand what happened?"

"Yes. You kept my soul from wandering into the hereafter." Gary's memory of being together with her on the hillside was faint. In time the vague images would fade and all he would remember of their time was that it was pleasant. "But it was like a dream. It wasn't real was it?"

"What happened was real," Lilla said. "It just wasn't tangible."

Gary was confused. But when he thought about it he understood, a little.

On the roof of the hotel Arana waited. Gary came up with a robe wrapped over his PJ's. He set Lilla down. She joined her sister. Mothra circled around in the sky before the moon and descended upon the building.

"Thank you again for your help," the Twin Fairies spoke in unison.

"I am going to miss you. And if you see Godzilla tell him I'll miss him, too." Gary shrugged. "If he remembers me."

"He will not forget your kindness," the Twin Fairies said.

Mothra gripped the corner edge of the building. Even though she was on the far end of the lofty structure her massive form overshadowed them. She chirped to her Twin Fairies.

"We must be going. If you like, you may come to our island."

Gary was incredulous. "Wow, thanks! Maybe we can have some sort of a class reunion thing. Seriously though, will I ever get to see you again?"

"Of course. We will not forget you."

Gary waved goodbye. He watched them fly off into the moonlit night. Seeing them go left him melancholy. Life seemed a bit empty without a touch of beauty, and strangeness.

EPILOGUE

In the late hours of the night in a steamy alley, a woman kept a fire burning in a barrel by feeding it sheaves of paper. She appeared to be in her late twenties, classy, expensively dressed, someone who would not be found in a place like this.

Then a man approached her, carrying a portfolio. His clothes were more eccentric, black with a cape draped over his shoulders. He was lean, almost skeletal, with sunken cheeks and eyes like a gutter rat. His gray hair was thick and wavy, almost like a lion's mane.

He tucked his portfolio under his arm and held his gloved hands toward the fire. Glancing sideways, he smiled at the woman.

"Thank you, Doctor," the woman said, "for obtaining these files for me." She fed the last of them into the flames. "Now no one will be able to link my government as the financier of Chiang's work."

"Merely a goodwill offering, Madame. Now will you consider my proposal?"

"I'm not sure I will be able to interest my government into backing another mad scientist."

"Chiang Mi Shek was a ranting child, and an idealist. A volatile combination. I warned you nothing good would come from him," he said. "I, on the other hand, am more practical. To tip the balance of world power—effectively—nuclear weapons are the means, and I can get them for you quickly and cheaply."

"How?"

"Element X."

"But that mineral is buried deep in the artic," the woman said. "Not even the Americans will mine it. How would you get me Element X?"

The good Doctor opened his portfolio, showing the woman designs of a giant robot.

She studied the blue prints. "A mechanical ape?"

"Yes! He is a monster that will obey you without question, a monster that will neither desert you nor oppose you. Interested?"

The woman's eyes sparkled for a moment before she returned to her cooler, more business-like demeanor. "There's a club near here where we can talk."

"Excellent!" The rogue scientist acknowledged her wish with a bow and, flinging his cape back, he invited her to proceed with an outstretched hand.

* * *

On his hard-won island off the Japanese coast, Rodan dropped his catch on the beach and squawked in contentment. Life was good, until a boulder bobbed him in the back of the head.

Rodan let out a feral screech and spun toward the mountain. More rocks tumbled at him in a Godzilla-induced avalanche. Rodan shielded himself with his wings. Godzilla fired his atomic ray at Rodan's feet, sending the winged saurian flapping for altitude.

It was payback for the last fight.

Godzilla descended the rocky mountain slope to the beach to check out Rodan's dinner: a hearty pile of porpoises. Godzilla helped himself then roared at his arch friend. Rodan bellowed and dived at his best enemy. Godzilla traced his radioactive beam across the waves. The sea hissed as a wall of vapor rose.

Loosing sight of Godzilla, Rodan veered away rather than fly through the fog and get bushwhacked coming out the other side. However, he whipped around with such force he blew away the steam, giving Godzilla a clear shot at his rear. Godzilla took advantage of this opportunity.

Insulted, Rodan flew back with his tail smoking, squawking invectives. But his stomach grumbled. He would drive Godzilla from his territory later. First, he must eat. So he returned to the sea.

Godzilla grunted in satisfaction. Rodan couldn't admit to being second best. He roared at Rodan to hurry back. He had grown attached to having friends around.

Rodan cocked a brow. What was that all about? Since when were they friends? Mothra must have bewitched him. Any more exposure to her and she would have Godzilla doing her job, saving the world. Rodan tried concentrating on that image. No, it couldn't happen.

Or could it?

Rodan became anxious.

The End


End file.
